Judy AullI am fairly new on the garden scene. Until several years ago, gardening was not at the top of my priority list. A good friend encouraged me to volunteer at the John Wornall House Museum herb garden on Monday mornings during growing season. I agreed to do it and I would call that commitment an "epiphany of attitude." It is amazing how enticing a small piece of dirt and a few herbs can be. But that is all it took to get me going.
Gardening became so important to me that I wanted to actually learn how to plan, implement, and maintain a garden so I became a Missouri Extentsion Master Gardener in 2007. That led me to join the Garden Center Association of Greater Kansas City. Then this past year I was asked to be on the GCA board. My job on the board is to recruit garden writers for our bimonthly newsletter. This job, in conjunction with Master Gardener Hotline, has greatly improved my horticultural education.
My husband and I bought our home back in 1997. It is located in Sunset Hill, south of the Plaza, an older neighborhood with mature landscaping. We inherited a large backyard with 60'+ pines encircling the area and a pea gravel path but not much other landscaping. The house is English Tudor with an Old World atmosphere. Some of this feel is carried over into the backyard with 2 antique fountains, wrought iron fencing and antique brick patios. With the large pines, we are dealing with a lot of deep shade which has led me to hostas, ferns, astilbes, leucothoe, rhoddies, many varieties of hydrangeas (my favorite plant), liriope, sweetspire, and others. (I think of my garden as experimental; I plant, replant, transplant, transfer, discard, according to what seems to work the best).
I am a homemaker, wife, mother, grandmother, and animal-lover. I feel fortunate to have all of my family here in the Kansas City area. We spend a lot of fun time together.