ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) -- The April ice storm turned Eleanor Langemach’s garden into a war zone. Although she usually doesn’t ask for help, she knew she would be playing pick-up-sticks forever, so she called a number that offered help for senior citizens.
Soon a group of volunteers came to her aid from a Baptist church in Lebanon, Mo. They did a wonderful job, she says, and she was very thankful. But she still gets a chuckle remembering the prayer they said when they were finished.
"He said, and bless Eleanor, we know she loves flowers because she has them planted everywhere.’"
She does have flowers planted everywhere, in beautiful flower beds circling all around her yard, front and back, bordered with green hostas and pink quartz rocks. She also has flowers at her church, Francis Street First United Methodist, where she maintains a meditation garden in memory of her husband, Vernon, and has organized a "Spray and Splash" team to keep it watered during the summer.
Her flowers decorate the landscape at two Habitat for Humanity homes, a project she worked on through her garden club, The Bu-An-Co Gardeners. She also taught the residents how to care for it. She’s a nationally accredited master flower show judge, so she has helped many others grow their flowers.
And one could not count all the flowers she has divided and shared with people everywhere.
"I’ve always felt the need to help make the world a little better whenever you can," she says. "You can add a touch of beauty wherever you are."
Langemach has not gone unnoticed. She recently received the 2008 Award of Honor given by the Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri. It was a surprise presentation during a 75th anniversary convention held in Jefferson City at the governor’s mansion.
Recipients of this award are national garden club members who, over a period of at least five years, have made outstanding contributions to their club and community and exemplify qualities and character in civic development, conservation design, garden therapy, horticulture, landscape design, youth and all around excellence.
Betty Bartles, a former classmate of Langemach’s at Lafayette High School, who has known her since grade school, says she has always been this way.
"Her mother must have said, if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well,’" Bartles says. "Eleanor always went the extra mile, and always did it very quietly."
Although Langemach depends on her son, son-in-law and grandsons to help her mow her lawn, the petite white-haired woman with an easy smile does the rest of the gardening herself. With just a few hand tools, she has flowers in bloom all the time: azaleas in April, irises in May, roses in June, day lilies in July and August and chrysanthemums in the fall.
They are gracefully mixed with annuals, wild flowers and a few new varieties she likes to try out, such as this year’s new pink germanium called "graffiti."
A fossil rock bench gives her a spot to take a break and listen to the many birds singing (because of the many birdhouses and birdbaths she has displayed). Now the only evidence of the ice storm is a dogwood tree that she is hoping will recover with a little more TLC.
This time of year, she is outside more than in, she says, with all the chores that must be done. Although her body aches at the end of the day, this is exercise she enjoys because all the bending over keeps her limber. It’s not time for resting now, she says, it’s time for her to get busy separating the thick row of green-striped hostas to give to a friend.
"God gives you many blessings," she says. "I really think we are meant to share ... And if you have nothing to share, give a smile."
-- By SYLVIA ANDERSON
St. Joseph News-Press