When Darlene McGuire moved to Arkansas from Minnesota 22 years ago, she had no idea what kinds of plants would grow in the Pope County soil. Now she does.
McGuire is the 2016 Pope County Master Gardener of the Year, an honor bestowed upon her by her fellow Master Gardeners.
She gardened in her hometown of Isle, Minnesota, but she knew she would have to adapt her gardening ways after she relocated to the Moreland community, just north of Russellville. She sought help from her neighbors; she also sought help from the Pope County Master Gardeners.
“I always wanted to be a Master Gardener, but there was not a place close enough to me in Isle where I could attend the training,” she said.
“You can only garden about four months out of the year up there. You don’t dare go outside for very long for seven months,” McGuire said.
“When we moved here, I needed to find out when and what to plant and what grew best here. I found the Master Gardeners and signed up for the classes,” she said.
“I’ve met so many wonderful people. It’s a great group. I joined in 1999. This will be my 18th year. I became a lifetime member after 15 years,” McGuire said.
“I’ve only been a member … never an officer. I stay away from that,” she said, smiling.
“I do the newsletter and keep track of the members’ hours. I like paperwork. I can’t do much digging anymore,” McGuire said.
“I’m also superintendent of the floricultural division at the Pope County Fair, she said. “I do the scheduling for those exhibits. Our group hosts the home and garden building for the fair.
“We always went to the county fair in Minnesota. Our kids were in 4-H. It was just a natural thing to get involved in the fair when we moved down here.”
McGuire said there are 43 members in the Pope County Master Gardeners. They meet monthly.
“We are having a training class in April, and we hope to attract some new members,” she said.
The Master Gardener training will be offered from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. April 11, 13, 18, 20 and 25 at the Pope County Cooperative Extension Service office, 105 W. B St. in Russellville. The registration deadline is March 20. The fee for the class is $85. For more information on the Pope County Master Gardeners, call (479) 968-7098.
Since McGuire joined the Master Gardeners, she has gone on to become a Level 2 Advanced Master Gardener.
“That means I have taken 13 extra classes,” she said.
“Last year, I logged 375 hours. The expected minimum for a member is 40 hours a year — 20 hours educational and 20 hours actual work.”
Meg Fox of Russellville, president of the Pope County Master Gardeners, said McGuire is now in competition with other Master Gardeners of the Year for the State Master Gardener of the Year award. The winner of that award, along with others, will be announced during the state Master Gardeners conference, which is scheduled for May 21-23 in Little Rock.
The Arkansas Master Gardener Program is under the auspices of the Cooperative Extension Service, which is part of the University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture. According to information found on the website uaex.com, the program now has more than 3,400 members, who are volunteers, in 67 counties in Arkansas.
“As with most organizations, there are a couple of people who really are the glue that holds the [Pope County] group together, and Darlene is one of those people,” Fox said. “She is a steadying influence on some of us who dream big, and she is a shining example of what one person can accomplish when they put forth an effort.
“Darlene works easily with others, and this year she and three other MGs developed a workshop for the community on Best Practices for Entering Horticultural Exhibits at the County Fair. The county fair is special to Darlene, and she is instrumental in the scheduling of volunteers to host the education and horticulture buildings. She is always willing to take on the tasks no other Master Gardener wants, and this year, at a minute’s notice, she convened a fair-booth committee and led them to a Best of Show ribbon.”
Fox said the Pope County Master Gardeners will host a Mingle With Master Gardeners event from 4:30-6 p.m. March 9 at the Pope County Cooperative Extension Service office.
“This will be a chance for the public to meet and visit with Pope County Master Gardeners like Darlene, learn more about us and our volunteer work here in Pope County and then, hopefully, sign up to take the training, which is in April.”
McGuire, 78, and her husband, Kenneth McGuire, 86, have been married 59 years. They moved to the Moreland community after their son relocated there.
“Our son came down here first, about 25 years ago,” she said. “This is an old Tyson pig farm. It actually had two [houses] on it, but we built our own log houses. Actually,
a friend came down from Minnesota and built them.”
She said their son, Craig McGuire, 56, was working long hours at his job in electronics and had developed health problems.
“The cold weather in Minnesota was hard on him,” she said. “He and his wife, Mary, came here looking for a farm where they could work together. They had pigs until Tyson pulled them out about 10 or 12 years ago.”
Darlene and Kenneth also have two daughters in Minnesota.
Their older daughter, Deborah Derosier, 58, lives in Elk River, Minnesota, with her husband, Wayne. They have two children, Meghan, 33, and Matt, 30.
Darlene and Kenneth’s younger daughter, Pam McGuire, 52, lives in Isle. She has one son, Phillip, 29.
“My husband was looking to get away from the cold weather, too,” Darlene McGuire said. “I don’t like the heat down here; I love the air conditioning in the summers. But I wouldn’t move back up there.”
McGuire graduated from Isle High School.
“I did attend college but quit and went to work,” she said. “I was 20 when I got married.”
She said she and Kenneth met at a dance in Isle.
“He lived in a neighboring town,” she said. “Our towns were always rivals.
“He had been in the service when we met. He was in the Navy during the Korean War but did not go to Korea. He served two years in Puerto Rico.”
McGuire said she worked when they lived in Minnesota.
“I started as a secretary at the school in Isle,” she said. “Then I worked in Minneapolis as a secretary. I worked as a secretary off and on over the years.
“We also had a drive-in restaurant for many years,” she said. “We were only open for seven or eight months of the year; we closed during the winter.
“We ran a lunch wagon for a while, too. We cooked all the food. My husband and I did it all.”
McGuire said she has not worked since she and her husband moved down here.
McGuire said her husband was mainly a rural mail carrier in Minnesota. He also worked on engines for the railroad.
“He said all he does now is mow the yard,” she said, laughing. “We have a full 33 acres, but we only mow 5 acres.”
McGuire said she was a systems analyst before the couple moved to Arkansas.
“I am comfortable working on computers. I started out working on a Commodore 16 and then moved on up to a Commodore 64. I now have Windows 10. I have both a laptop and a desktop,” she said.
“This has made it easier to do the monthly newsletter for the Master Gardeners,” she said.
“I have good support from the members who send in articles. I don’t have to do all the writing myself,” McGuire said.
“The newsletter is called ‘Beyond the Garden Gate.’ I put it online this year. I also mail some copies to the extension office and other places, but most Master Gardeners get it online,” she said.
“It became a challenge to get it online, so I did take some classes to help me get it online where people could read it,” she said. “I send it as a PDF attachment. Most of our members are retired, but they have learned how to get it.
“I have been to the state convention before, and I do plan to go this year.”
McGuire has also been a member of County 76 for 10 years. County 76 is the statewide advisory group for the Arkansas Master Gardeners Program. She serves as a member of the training project committee for County 76.
McGuire has a greenhouse at her home in Moreland, where she winters some of her plants, such as cacti and a mother-in-law tongue that actually belonged to her mother-in-law and is at least 50 years old.
McGuire also starts some of her tomatoes, peppers and plants for her garden in the greenhouse.
She keeps some of her plants in the garage during the winter as well, including lemon trees and an orange tree. One lemon tree is 35 years old; she had it in Minnesota and brought it with her, she said.
McGuire said she and other Pope County Master Gardeners are beginning to gather plants for their annual plant sale, which will take place from 8 a.m. to noon May 6 at the Pope County Fairgrounds in Russellville.
She has set up a miniature greenhouse in her house where she is starting plants from seeds, including torch lilies and tithonia (Mexican sunflowers).
“We haven’t had these before. I ordered them. I thought we would give them a try,” she said.
“We order some seeds, but most of the plants for the plant sale come from the members who dig them out of their yards,” she said, adding that she plans to take ajuga and columbines to the plant sale.
“We use the greenhouse at Russellville High School as a staging area for our plants for the plant sale,” she said.
McGuire usually plants a large vegetable garden for her own use.
“I freeze and can,” she said, adding that they raise tomatoes, snow peas, potatoes, peppers of all kinds and other items. She mulches her garden using newspaper and straw, or maybe just hay.”
“We grow a big garden that is split between our families,” she said.