Sunshine steals across the carefully plotted garden beds dotting Bill McKnight’s yard.
The Indianapolis resident had planted dozens of flowers, trees and shrubs in gardens spread over three acres. Each plant was specifically chosen, with attention paid to its fragrance, appearance, growth and fit in a central Indiana landscape.
Most gardeners get in trouble when they don’t make a plan, do a little research and put some thought into their garden beds. McKnight isn’t shy about telling people about it.
“I’m a direct speaker. It’s gotten me in a little trouble, but I sleep well at night. I’m not disingenuous,” he said. “People don’t like to be told they’re wrong. Well, I’ll tell people they’re wrong.”
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McKnight is an admitted curmudgeon and a self-proclaimed “mad botanist.” He has made gardening a lifelong passion, spending his free time with his hands in the dirt, digging, planting, pruning and caring for his beds.
His love of gardening pairs with his dismay with many of the standard practices he sees in yards all around him: invasive species, poor planning and ill-informed land use.
As a trained botanist, he has compiled his 60-plus years of experience and knowledge into a single a book. “Rantings of a Mad Botanist” touches on all aspects of horticulture in central Indiana, serving as a guide map for healthier land and a garden that works.
“He wants you to garden, and to produce gardens that work. His guidance is specific, concise and pulls no punches. he can even make this process fun, exciting and enriching, both for the gardener but also for our little corner of the world,” wrote Sara L. Zeckel, Boone County Master Gardener and president of the Fall Creek Garden Club, in the forward of the book.
McKnight will be one of the featured speakers at this year’s Johnson County Garden Celebration, a comprehensive event featuring expert seminars, more than 40 flower, plant and garden vendors and seed and sapling giveaways. He will focus on fragrant plants, guiding people on the best plants for a Johnson County garden.
When McKnight started gardening as a young child, it wasn’t for fun or for relaxation. Growing up in Hoosier Township, a small community in central Illinois, his family planted gardens to provide themselves with food throughout the year. They ate wild greens, drying and canning food so that they had enough for the winter.
He realized quickly that to garden was to survive. That’s not the case anymore, but plants are still vital.
“We’re not an agrarian society, even if we used to be. We’re so removed from plants that it’s frightening,” he said. “Everyone gardens directly or indirectly. Whether you garden or not, someone had to grow the food that you ate yesterday and will eat today, much of the clothing you wear. Without plants, we don’t exist.”
Out of necessity grew a love of the garden. He was trained as a botanist at Eastern Illinois University and the University of Illinois, and was a curator for the Illinois Natural History Survey and the Indiana State Museum. He taught high school biology for 15 years.
Since 1988, he has edited, published and marketed books for the Indiana Academy of Science.
When he worked at retail garden centers, McKnight would be perplexed when customers would come in asking for something, and then discard his advice because it didn’t fit into their preconceived notions.
“Some people get upset after asking for advice or an opinion, and you provide them with the facts or an honest answer rather than what they wanted to hear,” he writes in the book. “Maybe they should have asked a mirror.”
In writing “The Rantings of a Mad Botanist,” McKnight has tried to distill his experience and training into an easy-to-digest guide. Short, punchy chapters cover everything from planning your garden in advance to plant names to gardening etiquette and ethics.
In a chapter on plant and gardening myths, he dispels rumors and long-held beliefs — such as night being the best time to water plants, the more fertilizer the better and the existence of no-maintenance plants.
“Just because you believe something doesn’t mean it’s true. Just because someone has told you something for forever doesn’t mean that it’s true,” he said. “We live under the influence of myths.”
The initial key to a successful garden is assessing the kind of space, soil and landscape you have, and finding the right plants to fit it, McKnight said. To often, people buy a shrug or flower because it looks nice, not paying attention to the needs of the plant.
Despite what garden center labels say, plants never achieve a “maximum size,” he said. Each plant will keep growing until it dies, something that people don’t think about in their planning.
“You can garden whether you have a big yard or a postage-stamp sized yard. Some of the prettiest yards I’ve ever seen are tiny. There’s less to do,” he said. “But you shouldn’t go out and buy an oak tree for that yard.”
At the heart of McKnight’s writings and his beliefs are the concepts of locally grown.
“If we have any chance of making it long-term, we have to live a sustainable life,” he said. “Why should you be buying your tomatoes in the summer from California when this is a perfect tomato-growing region?”
His goal in putting together the book, and sharing his knowledge, is to make gardening enjoyable for everyone who tries it. People are going to have more fun if they’re successful, so McKnight is adamant about providing them with the best course of action to do so.
“I try to help people see through the fog, and make more informed decisions for themselves to prevent them from wasting time and money,” he said. “I garden because I like to garden. It’s fun. It keeps my healthy. And it’s something that actually needs to be done. I do everything I can to make people interested in it.”
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Johnson County Garden Celebration
When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 5
Where: Scott Hall, Johnson County Fairgrounds, Franklin
What: A yearly event focused on all things gardening. More than 40 flower, plant and garden-art vendors will be featured, expert seminars will be available, and seed packets and tree saplings will be given away while supplies last. Breakfast and lunch items prepared by Ron Kelsay Catering will be available for purchase.
Cost: $2, children 12 and under are free
Speaker schedule
9:30 a.m.: Bill McKnight, professionally trained botanist and experienced gardener, author of “Rantings of a Mad Botanist,” will present on the best fragrant plants for the Midwest garden.
10:30 a.m.: John Hefner, retired educator and nationally renowned rose-grower and exhibitor, will on creating a rose garden.
11:30 a.m.: Greg Marlett, the conservation programs director for Morgan County Soil and Water Conservation District, will discuss micro-gardening techniques.
1 p.m.: Marlett will do a micro-gardening program for children using his mobile garden classroom.
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Bill McKnight
Who: Professionally trained botanist specializing in the study of mosses and liverworts, as well as ethnobotany.
Author of “Rantings of a Mad Botanist: A Comprehensive Guide to Gardening and Land Use Practices Emphasizing Central Indiana”
Residence: Northeast Indianapolis
Education: Studied botany at Eastern Illinois University and the University of Illinois
Information: themadbotanist.com
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