DR. MICHAEL A. DIRR is a foremost expert on woody plants. Throughout his career as a professor, breeder and writer, he has shared his knowledge and insightful observations with horticulture colleagues, students and avid gardeners alike.
Through the University of Georgia and companies that he established with partners Mark Griffi th and Jeff Beasley, he has introduced more than 200 plants to the trade. He continues to breed and evaluate plants with Griffi th and Beasley at Premier Introductions, Inc., and he gardens on 3.5 Georgia acres alongside his wife, Bonnie.
SCOTT BEUERLEIN: We both were born and raised in Cincinnati, which has a fairly rich horticultural heritage. At what age did you become interested in plants?
MICHAEL DIRR: When one is still in grade school, life’s long-range career goals are interminable, muddled. My dad was an accountant who loved to garden, strictly vegetables, and the word “ornamental” never entered the vocabulary. Dad allotted a 20-by-20-foot mini-me plot where I grew onions (green), lettuce, carrots and sold them from a roadside stand. First introduction to entrepreneurial enterprise, with onions selling for 10 cents per dozen. No telling how much money I lost.
I love seeing references to Spring Grove, Mt. Airy and other local arboreta
