Hosta la vista.
Since Dennis and Diane Lenz placed a small ad in local shoppers advertising the sale of hostas, thousands of customers have traveled to Pondside Gardens to marvel at the thousands of hardy, shade-loving perennials growing throughout the wooded ravines on the couple’s 14-acre spread just east of Kiel.
Those eager to travel to Pondside Gardens to check out the newest hostas this spring, however, were stunned to learn that the couple will close the business at the end of this season. The announcement came after Dennis, 84, was diagnosed with a serious illness. Diane, 82, says they plan to sell the property and move to Kiel next spring.
“If Dennis hadn’t gotten sick we probably wouldn’t be moving,” Diane said, “but we’re just getting tired and it was getting harder.”
Looking for something to do after retirement
Pondside Gardens is located on Louis Corners Road, a winding thoroughfare in Manitowoc County, not far from the farm where Dennis Lenz grew up. The couple bought the wooded lot in 1988 from a local farmer and decided to build a house 11 years later.
“I had been driving semi for 30 years and often thought about what we would do once we retired. You can’t just sit around and watch TV,” Dennis said. “Maybe we’d start a business after we both retired.”
A nun living at the Villa Loretto Nursing Home near Mount Calvary told Diane’s sister about a veterinarian who grew hostas at his home in Michigan. A trip to the man’s gardens planted a seed in Dennis’ mind. They began collecting different varieties of hostas in 2000 and planted them in the landscaping around their home.
Dennis had bigger plans in 2004.
“I left for a dental appointment in Sheboygan and when I returned a couple of hours later, my brother, a landscaper, had brought in his equipment and wiped out part of the woods,” Diane recalled. “I decided if you can’t beat them, you might as well join them.”
Transitioning from hosta collectors to a full-fledged hosta business required a lot of work preparing the beds and finding a wholesaler that could provide young plants, 2-3 years old, that could be sold in a shorter time period.
Over the past 20 years, the couple has worked side by side, building up the business. Dennis says Pondside Gardens is the largest hosta business along the Lake Michigan lakeshore, with over 9,000 plants in the ground.
Last year, the Lenz’s received 700 to 1,000 plants a month during the growing season. Those hostas are planted in the beds until they are ready to be potted and placed in the selling area. Pre-potted plants are arranged by size and placed in alphabetical order, making it easy for the customers to find.
“If they can’t find a variety they want in the selling area, Dennis would grab a shovel and dig one up from the beds,” Diane said.
Potted plants that didn’t sell by Labor Day were replanted in the beds to await next season.
A hidden gem in the backroads of northeast Wisconsin
Tucked away in the backroads of Manitowoc County, Pondside Gardens built its reputation with good service, high quality plants and the attraction of the lovely gardens stocked with 700 varieties of hostas and a large koi pond across the road. Diane believes the business has been successful thanks to word of mouth and a little help from friends.
“A lot of people learned about Pondside Gardens after Rob Zimmer began writing articles about us in the Green Bay Press-Gazette,” she said. “Our Facebook page run by our friend, Tammy Borden, has also helped folks find us.”
Cindy Nietzel read about Pondside Gardens in a newspaper and has been making the trip from Fond du Lac for years.
“I never knew this place was here and it’s so nice to be able to see the mature plants and know what they’ll look like in a few years,” Nietzel said. “I wish someone would buy this place and keep it as a hosta garden.”
Selling off the inventory, plant by plant
Since retirement, the couple has opened the business on Memorial Day weekend and staffed it seven days a week through Labor Day weekend. The Lenzes sell an average of 30-40 hostas during the week, with an uptick in sales on the weekends.
“Now that people know we’re closing, we’ve been selling sometimes 400 hostas in a day. One woman who plans to expand her home hosta business spent $3,000 on hostas just the other day,” Diane said.
Since the couple runs the business themselves, Diane has had to rely on family members for help them move through the final growing season as Dennis’ health journey filled with doctor appointments that take her away from home.
“We never in our wildest dreams imagined all the people that would start coming once they learned about Dennis’ illness on Facebook,” Diane said. “We will stay open after Labor Day until the inventory is gone, including the large display plants.”
Over the years, people from all corners of the country have visited Pondside Gardens, including Al and Julie Meyer of Minnesota, who discovered the hidden gem on Louis Corners Road last year while searching for hostas on their “Hosta Crawl.”
“We fell in love with Pondside Gardens last year and had to come back,” said Julie Meyer. “Of all the hosta places that we’ve visited, this is the most beautiful and most memorable. It’s fun to see the special plants that you can’t find at a regular nursery.”
The thought of the unique business closing due to health reasons nearly brings Meyer to tears.
“Dennis and Diane are so remarkable in how hard they work and love this place, and to see all they’ve done over the years,” she said. “I hope someone buys it and keeps it going.”
While sitting in their garage that has served as their business front for over 20 years, the Lenzes are grateful for countless customers who have enjoyed the fruits of their labor.
“I’ve enjoyed meeting so many nice people over the years and have answered so many questions about hostas,” Dennis said.
Aside from sharing her love of hostas, Diane is thankful for the people who have returned time after time.
“There have been so many conversations with wonderful people from all over the country,” she said. “Every customer has a story to tell.”