When Margi Brooks graduated from the "School of Crafts and Design" she could not envision how she could combine her gift for display with her background in horticulture. But, as the daughter of John VanWissen Nursery and garden centre, the thought was not as far fetched as one may believe.
I graduated in 1986, says Margi, receiving a diploma in what most may see as obscure. Add her education to her love of arts ands crafts, and the fact that she grew up and worked in the family garden centre, and Margi's future in  the horticulture industry as the owner of Vanwissen perennials is pretty much set.
I worked at White Rose for 2 years and met a wonderful teacher, Mike Gee, who taught me everything about product display and merchandising, Margi explains. This appealed to her artistic side, she explains as she has always liked the appearance of items and the impact they have when arranged properly.
After 2 years of training at White Rose, she joined her father in the garden centre and remained until 1995, when the business was sold to her brother and sister-in-law. By that time, Margi was ready to expand on her own and opened Vanwissen Perennials Inc, a company specializing in a selection of perennial staples.....from ivy to their latest venture, single peonies.
Operating out of a home office and growing fields located behind the original garden centre vanwissen perennials does not rely on fancy greenhouse structures to grow their range of perennials, "We have to know what will grow in our area, and what perennials can survive a winter under straw or in a  polyhouse." she notes. Sometimes it is a hit or miss, but the perennials we do grow, we grow well.
When asked why she concentrates solely on perennials, Margi says that it is the artistic side that appealed to her, "Don't get me wrong, a garden does need evergreens and shrubs as  foundation plantings, but crafty people love the flowering perennials" she says, indicating that perennials are ideal for arrangements and wreaths etc.
Perennials are also ideal for movie sets, it seems, as Vanwissen perennials was once asked to supply a selection of perennials for a shoot in an after-school childrens special."They came with a certain amount of money they were willing to spend to decorate a scene and loaded their trucks up with flats of perennials."
While supplying a movie set with her own product was exciting, what truly inspired margi was a recent visit to the home of Oscar Peterson, to whom she had supplied plant material. What came out of this seemingly normal business transaction was the inspiration for a very unique display "the perennial Piano" which Margi entered into the Awards of Excellence.Designed by Margi Brooks and built by Rick Vandenburg of Gerrick Carpentry, the piano provided a perfect display for a selection of ivy, thyme, and other perennials. The hardest part was to find perennials that actually suited the display. This was her second attempt at this unique type of display. Margi first captured the imagination of the Awards of Excellence with her charming "story book house".
" I jumped at the chance to do this," says Margi of the change in the Awards of Excellence program, which had the judges choose the winning entry by looking at the "skid" rather than at a "slide". I asked if there was any restrictions about what I could do with the skid and went from there. You can't really create great displays in a wholesale nursery, she says of her own growing fields, which relies more on function than on aesthetics.
The success Vanwissen Perennials has enjoyed is wonderful, says Margi indicative of the skills, good business sense and the love for plants which were instilled in her since childhood by father John. When asked about the future of Vanwissen Perennials Margi says that she would like to see the business grow in the next ten years, but not at the expence of quality.Our goal is to grow a good product and be very service minded. "You can doll a plant up any way you like but it is still roots and dirt"

Featured article in Landscape's Ontario Horicultural Magazine, January 2000