Living in Baden-Württemberg is probably the reason. Green is the strongest party there (2016 30%). They are ahead of CDU (Merkels party) for two periods now.
Fair enough, the point I was trying to make is that it's more than just Merkel + some lobbying, and that this article is badly written and mostly rubbish.
2009 - 10.7%
2013 - 8.4%
2017 - 8-10% (projections)
Only B-W has a ruling Green Party, I'd they they're still mostly at 10% everywhere else.