Cassandra Danz

Mrs. Greenthumbs

Jun 11, 2025

I know what many of you are now saying, “I know who Cassandra Danz is! I bought her books! How can she be lost if we all remember her?” To you I respond, “Yes, you are that old. Now, go get your copies of her books and re-read them. I think they are a delight!”

For everyone else, it’s about time you met Cassandra Danz, a lost lady of garden writing from the late 20th century.

Her Biography

Cassandra was born on January 1, 1947 and died of breast cancer on May 26, 2002, age 55. She started out as a struggling comedienne, and this earned her a brief biography on the IMDb website:

“Born Sandra Danz in Brooklyn, New York, Cassandra Danz grew up in Valley Stream, New York. The daughter of Marilyn and William Danz, Sandra attended C. W. Post College and Brooklyn College where she majored in Theater Arts. Married to Walter Brett in the 1960s, the couple had one son, Sam. After a less than memorable career as a stand-up comedienne, Cassandra appeared in several off Broadway plays, most notably as Consuela in El Grande De Coca Cola at the Plaza Theater and became a regular cast member at Chicago's famed Second City Improvisational theater in the company's first string troupe where she worked with Bill Murray and Betty Thomas, among others.

In the 1980s, Cassandra was a founding member of the highly praised, legendary High-heeled Women comedy group with Mary Fulham, Tracy Berg and Arlene Sorkin, and others. She also hosted a garden advice radio program in Hudson, New York, where she and her husband had a weekend home. This led to a regular spot on the Fox morning program. Michael Gelman, the producer of the Regis and Kathie Lee morning show, saw Cassandra on the Fox show and asked her to become a semi-regular garden expert, sometimes interviewer and location hostess on the show.”

There’s another biography on the Find-a-Grave site with more information, especially about her garden writing:

“Television Personality, Horticulturist. Known as “Mrs. Greenthumbs,” she appeared regularly as a garden expert on "Live, with Regis and KathyLee/Kelly" on ABC. In Great Britain, she appeared on "This Morning with Richard and Judy" for Granada Television, and completed a ten-week tour of famous British gardens. Her other appearances included the "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," "CBS This Morning," "CNN Morning News," "Celebrity Gardens" on the Home and Garden Network, and "Our Home on Lifetime." For two years, she did regular garden segments on "Breakfast Times" with Laurie Hibberd, as well as "Garden Variety" on the FX cable network. She lectured at flower shows in New England, New York, St. Louis and Philadelphia and was a frequent speaker at garden clubs, as well as Home and Garden exhibitions in the United States and Great Britain. In her theatrical show, "An Evening with Mrs. Greenthumbs," she told how she turned a weed filled lot into a cottage garden that has been written about in the “New York Times” and photographed for “Country Living Gardener Magazine.” In 1995, she starred in "Mrs. Greenthumbs Plows Ahead" at the Charles Ludlam Theatre in New York City. In 1997, she received the Golden Leaf Award from the Planting Fields Arboretum for her contribution to the advancement of horticulture.”

When she died, her obituary appeared in newspapers across the country.

Her Writing:

The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), on Sat, Jun 1, 2002, published an article written by Frances Ingraham Heins that told a bit more about Cassandra’s writing:

“But her passion for gardens and organic gardening took center stage. She wrote "Mrs. Greenthumbs: How I Turned a Boring Yard into a Glorious Garden and How You Can Too" (Crown 1993), which won the Quill and Trowel Award from the Garden Writers Association of America. Danz was a regular columnist for Country Living Gardener.1
She also penned several newspaper columns and was a regular on the garden-club and flower-show lecture circuit, including the Philadelphia Flower Show. Her second gardening book was "Mrs. Greenthumbs Plows Ahead: Five Steps To The Drop-Dead Gorgeous Garden of Your Dreams" (Crown 1998). She was at work on her third book, "Men, Morals and Mulch," at the time of her illness.
Danz wore her trademark bright, floral-patterned, form-fitting dresses everywhere but the garden, so as not to attract bees. Her risque humor and passion for gardening endeared her not only to her fans and friends, but struggling everyday gardeners as well.”

She’s Hard To Find in Videos Online

Given her presence on television and radio, I thought it would be easy to find some video clips of her. Nope. I found one on YouTube for The Mrs. Greenthumb’s Show. The quality isn’t great, but it’s all I could find. I even asked ChatGPT to dig a little deeper to find some videos, and it came up empty-handed, except for the same video I found.

Per a newspaper article written in 1998, the The Mrs. Greenthumb’s Show was filmed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and there were 26 episodes.

And I quote from Cassandra in a newspaper title:

“It’s really a variety gardening show where we dance, sing and do other silly things. We have a piano, musical director and my announcer is a tenor. People from the audience come in with their sick plants. They sit on a couch and I analyze them, like a psychiatrist. Other times I play Greenah (like Xena Warrior Princess), the Garden Warrior. We also have guests, like a tree surgeon, a vegetable expert and a very high-camp floral designer with lots of attitude.” (Santa Cruz Sentinel, August 1998)

Also in Cassandra’s own words:

More on Her Books and Gardening Philosophy

As noted, Cassandra wrote two books: Mrs. Greenthumbs: How I Turned a Boring Yard into a Glorious Garden and How You Can Too (Crown 1993) and Mrs. Greenthumbs Plows Ahead: Five Steps To The Drop-Dead Gorgeous Garden of Your Dreams (Crown 1998). Used copies are still available.

The first book, Mrs. Greenthumbs is organized by months and as she noted “Each chapter deals with a specific gardening topic and contains factual information, personal observations, and a great many interesting digressions.” Right off, in January, she writes that she wanted to be a gardener from the time she was twelve-years-old, but they lived in New York City. Her idol was English garden designer Gertrude Jekyll.

Her second book, Mrs. Greenthumbs Plows Ahead, contains her five principles for all gardens, which she learned and observed while visiting gardens in both the United States and Great Britain. Those five principles were listed over and over in numerous newspaper articles which popped up around the U.S. as she visited various garden shows

From the *Santa Cruz Sentinel*, August 1998

In talking about her second book, Cassandra noted, “I’ll tell the audience essentially the five steps, but they’ll have to read the book if they want to read the love scenes.” (The Indianapolis Star, April 1998)

She Is Still Remembered

If you’d like to read more about Cassandra’s garden writing, check out a blog post on Garden Rant from 2009, Mrs. Greenthumbs, Still Remembered. I think if Cassandra had still been living in the early 2000s, she would have taken up blogging, perhaps even joining that original fiesty Garden Rant team.

Or check out a review of one her books on My Northern Garden, circa 2012.

Or go look on your own library shelves. I would guess that nearly every gardener of a certain age has one or both of Cassandra’s books still in their library. I know I have her two books and will enjoy reading them again, to once again enjoy both her humor and her good gardening sense.