Featured Gardener

Why are my tomatoes wilting and dying this year. Only the tops of some plants are still green. The plants have loads of ripe and green tomatoes. I have successfully grown tomatoes for many years. I have never seen trouble like this. My neighbors and friends are having the same problem. Help if you can. Thanks...Dan

My tomatoes have been planted for about 2 weeks. The growth has been very satisfactory, however many of the leaves, especially at the top where new growth occurs, are rolled into a tight curl. What is the cause of this and what can I do about it. Thanks, Dan.

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By Norman Winter
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
It’s always interesting to see the crowd favorites at garden shows, and the winners at the recent Gulf Coast Garden and Patio Show appear to be Kangaroo Paws and skullcaps. These were the plants the throngs of gardeners were elbowing each other to purchase last weekend.
It is a blast watching gardeners shop during those first garden and patio shows of the year. Everyone is eager for color and wants to try what is new and different. Today’s gardeners are some of the best proving grounds an industry could want.

Pat Glover is an accomplished vegetable gardener in Blue Springs. She's a University of Missouri Extension Master Gardener of Greater Kansas City.

Pat's lived in this area about three years, coming here after serving churches for 20 years. She lives at Blue Spring Terrace, an independent living community for United Church of Christ and The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) pastors.

Here's a quick look at Pat and her garden:

How did you begin gardening?

I grew up on a small family farm in Hinckley, Ohio. Our family grew vegetables and raised cows, pigs and goats, chickens, geese and turkey for our family table. At that time we had a huge garden of straight rows of vegetables which we children weeded.A raised bed with wire over the top to hold burlap and keep sun off the broccoli It was a tough job, but somehow the values of the earth and gardening were instilled in me. My parents were early supporters of Rachel Carson. She wrote a book called “The Silent Spring.” I was an active 4-H member and raised pumpkins for show. We fed them with milk so they got huge!

Sue Waltemath, who has lived in Kansas City since 1974, shares some of her garden experiences. She is master gardener with University of Missouri Extension Master Gardeners of Greater Kansas City.

Family Ties

I am married to Doug who is a bridge engineer and have one son, Sam, who is working on his masters degree in secondary education at Rockhurst. Doug and Sam help with the larger construction projects. Sam is a budding garden enthusiast who likes to purchase plants he likes and hopes Mom can find a spot in her garden for them.

Backyard with redbudBoth of my grandmothers were gardeners in Western Nebraska. My Grandma Delpha fought the elements and the pet peacocks in the Sandhills in order to grow bluegrass and ornamental flowers. Now that she is gone, the land to reclaimed her garden. My Grandma Katherine was a vegetable gardener and I remember picking fresh strawberries from her garden. Both of my parents were gardeners while I was growing up. My dad still maintains several garden beds. I started gardening during college where we rented a 100 year-old house.

Richmond Shee is clearly a passionate gardener. He keeps six gardens going -- two of them on berms - and he's not afraid of using tropicals. The results pay off, though. To see some of them, go to http://richmondsgarden2008.shutterfly.com/action

Richmond and his wife, Jody, live in Olathe. Here are his answers to a few questions from kcgardens:

How did you begin gardening?

Richmond Shee in one of his berm gardensI had a house with an above-ground swimming pool. I thought the backyard would look much better with colorful flowers, so I gave the pool away and planted flowers in its place. I had no gardening background; not even the most basic concept such as zone, light and water requirements, and height. I simply bought good-looking plants and seeds from magazines. The trouble was most of the good-looking pictures did not translate to my garden. Many plants died or did not return the next season. The garden was sparse and there were lots of disappointments. Some plants, however, did amazingly well. They turned out to be the native plants.

Delightful Design

(Beverly Francella's garden is on the 2008 Extension Master Gardener Public Garden Tour on May 16 and 17.)

About the gardener
Beverly Francella provides inspiration for gardeners on a budget. Back in 2003 when she purchased her 50-year-old home, some might have called the yard sparse—four trees and questionable turf. Sparse, however, was not how Beverly saw it. She saw a blank canvas for creating a wonderful garden sanctuary.

With determination, ingenuity, and her natural eye for design, Beverly got to work. She spent the first year “up and down.” The “up” was taking time to plan and observe. The “down” was literally down on her hands and knees digging out hundreds of violets, wild strawberries, and creeping Charlie from the lawn. “It was then I decided to limit grass to the amount required to set off the other components.”

Frank and Brenda Livingston
Overland Park
(Garden featured on the upcoming Extension Master Gardener Public Garden Tour, May 16-17)

About the gardener

When Frank and Brenda Livingston made their way to Kansas City from South Carolina 24 years ago, they brought along with them southern hospitality and a passion for gardening. They looked for a home that offered a relaxing setting for entertaining family and friends and also had plenty of trees and shade for a respite from the summer heat.

As Frank set about creating his gardens, he discovered that shade gardening in Kansas City was more of a challenge than he expected. After 5 years of not being able to grow grass, Frank started to test some shade plants. A self-taught adventurer on shade gardening, he began with the basics and then continued to experiment with various plantings.

For some people, African violets are a challenge. For Tricia Taylor, they’re a passion.

Tricia, of Kansas City, is a member of the Sho-Me African Violet Club, which is planning its annual show March 29 and 30 at Loose Park.
Tricia’s other passion: Motorcyles. She’s named her motorcycles Agnes, Bob, Gladys, Maxine, and RickeyKay.

So she turns some heads when she shows up to judge an African violet show.

“They don’t know what to think when this woman comes riding up on a motorcycle and says she is there to judge their show,” she says. “Ha!”

Tricia, who moved to Kansas City in 1979, works downtown as a claims authorizer for Social Security.

Diana and Keith spent phase one of their lives in their hometown of Carrollton, MO. They married, raised two sons, and Keith completed his first career there. Then, eight years ago, they moved to Kansas City, where Keith started his own business. That's when they began building their garden.

Diana and Keith Cannon

Bette Lilley Memorial GardenBette Lilley was an avid gardener who lived for 77 years in Lake of the Forest, near Bonner Springs, before she died in 2002.

She's an unusual choice for our Featured Gardener, but then her family is unusual too. Her son, Tom Lilley, has written this wonderful tribute to the gardening legacy that his mother left behind. Enjoy!

John Quick's water gardenThere aren't many varieties of roses missing from John Quick's garden. In fact, his garden includes shrub, hybrid tea, floribunda, polyantha, miniature and miniature climber roses.

John has plenty of credentials and service to back up his rose expertise. He's an ARS Consulting Rosarian. He's also a member of the Kansas City Rose Society, where he is a member of the board, project liaison for the West Garden Enhancement Project, bylaws chairman and member of the planning, garden and garden enhancement committees. He is also currently treasurer of and has served as president (2000-03) and program chairman of the Johnson County Rose Society, which awarded him the Bronze Honor Medal of the American Rose Society in 2006.

Honey Barnekoff has the honor of being the first, and only, woman president of the national Gardeners of America/Men’s Garden Clubs of America. And her Overland Park garden is visited by several hundred people a year.

A sign out front says, “Garden is Open, Visitors Welcome.” And Honey means it.

An 1,800-square-foot garden anchors the center of the backyard, which also has gardens along the perimeter. Plus, there are gardens out front.

All that dirt requires a lot of mulch — 55 bags this year. It also requires a lot of plants, and some years Honey has started 60 flats of seedlings. This year, though, she tore the rotator cuff in her shoulder in a gardening injury, so no seedlings.