Denise Essmen

President & CEO, Essman/Associates
Master Gardener

Denise Essman often finds herself abandoning a cup of coffee she’s enjoying on her porch to pull a stray weed from a flower bed. Before she knows it, six hours have passed, many more weeds are gone, and her coffee is long forgotten.

Essman, president and CEO at Essman/Associates in Des Moines, is a master gardener, certified through the Polk County Extension Office, so it’s not uncommon for her to get lost in creating beautiful outdoor spaces. It’s what she likes most about gardening.

“It’s therapeutic for me … and it’s the challenge,” she said. “(Gardening) is like baking a cake — there are so many ways to do it, but the challenge is finding the right combinations to help things grow and thrive.”

Essman developed a love of gardening through her grandmother, whom Essman helped in her own gardens.

Essman and her husband, Allen, enjoyed gardening together.  At their homes, the couple maximized outdoor spaces to create elaborate and purposefully executed gardens. Their urban home on Southern Woods Drive off Park Avenue in Des Moines was on the Polk County Master Gardeners Tour. Eventually, they purchased an expansive acreage outside Cumming, determined to turn the home and the land surrounding it into an oasis for their retirement.

But Essman’s husband passed away in 2010, and this year she sold their Cumming home and relocated to a West Des Moines townhome with ample outdoor space.    

She’s already turning it into an outdoor sanctuary. Now, she can add ‘suburban’ to her list of gardening challenges accomplished.