Jane Milliman

If anyone can restore Rochester's historic nickname, The Flower City, it's Jane. Because after 15 years writing about life as a gardener, one thing is clear: her ideas, like her stories, never stop germinating.

It's a subject she's grown accustomed to covering, both as a columnist for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and as editor of Upstate Gardeners' Journal, which she founded with her husband, Dean, in 1995.

Jane Milliman, of Caledonia, NY, launched Upstate Gardeners' Journal with her husband, Dean, in 1995.“My husband's grandmother was in publishing,” Jane says. “She owned a small community newspaper. She gave me my start and is still my mentor.”

The Millimans used Dean's grandmother's office and computer on the weekends for the first few years.

“I don't think we had all of our own equipment until about 1998,” she says.

Later, she added a position as Democrat and Chronicle columnist to her gardening repertoire.

“About a year after I started the magazine, I approached an editor and said I thought it would behoove the paper to have a local garden columnist in addition to running Martha Stewart's syndicated pieces,” she says.

“I was hired right away and have been with the paper now for 14 years,” she says, adding, “Martha's gone.”

As milestones go, Jane just hit a biggie. She wrote column No. 375 for the Democrat and Chronicle Sept. 25. Her 375th topic? A book review of Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities, by Amy Stewart.

JaneAnd if you've followed her in either publication, you know that Jane's columns represent seasons and subjects as only an Upstate Gardener can appreciate them—from crisp fall days full of bulb-planting and cleanup, to long winter evenings curled up with a stack of freshly printed seed catalogs.

To tide her over in those winter months, Jane has lent her support on another project—of epic proportions.

“Right now, I'm really excited about the GardenAerial,” she says of an ambitious proposal to build a vast, lush outdoor garden trail in Rochester. This living spectacle would loop around Rochester's High Falls neighborhood—even crossing and spilling over the expansive Pont de Rennes pedestrian bridge. (see video below)

To build momentum and support for the project, Friends of the GardenAerial has planned a first-ever Greentopia Festival for fall 2011 in High Falls.

“It's going to be transformative for downtown,” Jane says, “It'll showcase some really cool horticulture, plants-wise and practice-wise.”

Sounds like we're going to need a bigger composter.

See more: upstategardenersjournal.com and on Facebook

Say hi: jane@janemilliman.com

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VIDEO: The GardenAerial

According to its website, the GardenAerial envisions a transformation of the perimeter of the Genesee Gorge and the Ponte de Rennes bridge into “a magical outdoor arboretum.”