Soil Sisters

"One garden glove can reap a hundredfold..."

Carla Froggatte has been a mainstay at the Arboretum for nearly eight years. I consider her the VERY first volunteer to strap on the gardening gloves and show up willing to work and encourage - season after season, year after year. She does not shy away from floods, freezes or felcos. More than once she has whispered in my ear, Rosie the Rivetor-style: "You CAN do it." Each year for my birthday, Carla comes to the arb with my traditional gift – new blue tarps – and like a rite of equinox, the annual leaf raking commences. In the springtime it is Carla who nudges me to get the Zoysia thatched and fertilized. Best of all Carla is an award-winning teacher of AP Statistics and Economics, mother of three and a crackerjack quilter.

Annie Calovich's tribute to the Bartlett Arboretum (Wichita Eagle cover story June 1, 2004) is what initially brought a curious Alisa DePontier to the garden gate. A heartfelt message on hydrangea stationary arrived in the PO Box and indicated a resolve to "make time for the things that are really important to me." As a busy mom and a Johnson's Garden Center veteran employee, Alisa still makes time to drive south to tend to her adopted piece of the Arboretum Quilt: The Formal Garden. This soulful earth mama loves and understands all things botanical. A tiny woman with a big heart, Alisa tenderly tends to the soil and the pansies and the tulips and to her friendships with intention and focus. And like a woodland tulip she is a rare and genuine inspiration to all. Patchouli oil is always in the air when Alisa walks through the gate toting the same clean, sharp felcos she purchased 15 years ago. And she still manages to live without an answering machine.

Master Gardener and neighbor, Rosalie Hatfield has spent decades helping out and enjoying Old Bartlett. Her own city yard is a joy to behold in any season. It is apropos that she chose the ROSE garden (or did it choose her?) as her adopted slice of paradise; she has single-handedly recreated an enduring, romantic, aromatic garden patch. Roses can be difficult and uncooperative at times. Rosalie is winning the war to tame the unwelcome honeysuckle and ensures that the roses are pampered on demand! She is no stranger to this acreage having volunteered in years past for the Bartletts and the Gourlays. Therefore, she possesses the Big View and is a constant source of encouragement and support. In addition, Rosalie is a jewel in our community, caring for other garden areas around town, serving on Belle Plaine's Tree Board and Community Foundation and is a devoted Sumner County Master Gardener. She is also known throughout the land for her homemade yeast rolls.

Sharon Anderson and her husband Andy raised their two sons here in Belle Plaine, Kansas where Sharon was the beloved Elementary School nurse for 25 years. Sharon was often the first to purchase an annual pass to the Bartlett Arboretum and always scheduled their family portrait just in time to feature the Arb's beautiful fall color as the backdrop. Over the years Sharon has cultivated a deep and fond affection for Bartlett Arboretum; she says it has been an inspiration for the creation of her own gorgeous home gardens. Recently retired and after a move to the big city, Sharon has now found a good reason to return to her roots – to reclaim her favorite Fertile Crescent, a large bed of perennials and new tree/plant introductions near the front gate. Sharon is tranquil, nurturing and loving. She wears pink gardening gloves and a beautiful smile every time she is here. You readily sense her love for all things botanical and her joy is contagious. It is profoundly fortunate that this dear old friend of the Arb is now its new enthusiastic visionary and docent. To everything, there is a season...turn, turn, turn...

After Kim Benson's feature story in the Wichita Register hit the news stands early this spring it was the tall and lean horticulture queen, Liz Stasieczko who inquired about volunteer opportunities via e-mail. It was a cold and dreary day when Liz and I walked the grounds for the first time but it was the overgrown woodland thicket - which includes the illustrious but defunct Bum Boat Dock – what caught her eye. After knowing this thoughtful, spiritual and soulful young woman for just a short while it is no surprise to me that a shady, protected spot of earth would call Liz's name. She is strong (just watch her jump on a spade!) and tender all at the same time, exactly what the woodland thicket needed. Ferns, rhododendrons, hostas and foxglove have a special place in Liz's crystal ball. Often with the ragtop down, our wise Liz drives south with a milk-bone in her pocket and a purple kerchief around her neck. And she has inspired me to simplify more and practice yoga with reckless abandon. Better yet, Liz has great taste in music and is a big fan of the arb's resident pound-hound Sister Stella, the guard of the yard who adores her nearly as much as I do.

Wichita native, Mary Lynn Oliver, recently passed the extensive interview process and residency program and has been awarded cum laude status as Bartlett Arboretum's newest Soil Sister. Mrs. Oliver is the seventh member of a prestigous group of dedicated women who generously give of their time and talent to further the restoration of this Kansas landmark. After just one intitial visit to the Campbell/Phoenix Nursery early this spring, Mary's own home garden is a testament to her new love of all things botanical. In addition, she is the only member of this exclusive sorority who has actually lived on the grounds of the historic property. In 2005, while "between residences," Mary and her venturous husband, Chuck, lived in the 700 square foot regular hexagonal home located on the western half of the property, across the Euphrates creek and adjacent to the zoysia lawn. Therefore, she is keenly aware of the on-going servitude required and asked of its patrons and volunteers. No stranger to a rake, Mrs. Oliver does not shy away from mosquitoes or an occasional garden-variety snake any longer. And that is why the Bartlett Arboretum's Board of Directors has unanimously decided and are proud to announce that Mary Lynn Oliver has readily graduated from pansy princess to soil sister status this historic day, August 20, 2007.

Soil Sister number 2.5, Connie Lent, was recruited by the passionate and convincing Ms. Depontier after Mrs. Lent spent a brief but impressionable stint working at Johnson's Garden Center with Alisa. Connie is the most organized, kind-hearted go-to gal I know. Whenever a job needs doing, snap your fingers and Connie has already done it. As a veteran Jazzercise instructor she is fit as a fiddle and can prove it when put to task. A loving and youthful grandma, Connie still finds time in her busy schedule of volunteering, working, sewing and babysitting to show up at the garden gate, most often with a new botanical treasure to introduce to Bartlett Arb. Alisa says that Connie is the best right hand a left-handed gal could ever hope for.

Although a recent inductee into the Soil Sister Sorority, I've be acquainted with Cindi Gentry for nearly a decade. I can attest that she is a most talented, tenacious and artistic woman who adopted the sunny alcove a few years back and now has plenty to brag about! See the red tulips sunning themselves among her precisely pruned privet hedge, planted long ago by the Bartlett family in the form a sundial. Cindi lovingly cares for the historic hedge as she has tended to her three kids who all studied the Pythagorean Theorem under the tutelage of Miss Macy at the Wichita Collegiate School. I am proud to report that Cindi is as handy with a calligraphy pen as she is with her new electric shears which she asked for and received for Mother's Day. That's the kind of gal we like around the arboretum. Nothing says love like a new power tool.

When one of Charolett Knapic's clients wants a change of scenery, the Arboretum often is the beneficiary. Charolett, who owns Echo Landscapes in Wichita, keeps her eye open for arboreal cast-offs that might be at home in Belle Plaine. It's not unusual for her to show up at the Arb with several trees and a shovel. Charolett brings her porch pots to Art at the Arb each April, but tucks her autoharp in amongst the begonias so she can take her turn on the big stage with the Melodivas. She also contributes her considerable knowledge and expertise to the ongoing development that keeps the Arb dynamic and fresh. A longtime friend of Robin's and of the Arboretum, Charolett is the newest inductee into this special sorority, the Soil Sisters.

Jennifer Pettersen, known in some circles as J. Pet, Boom Chick or Jenny Lou, has more enthusiasm for Bartlett Arboretum than an entire Girl Scout troop. She is the first of a new generation of gardeners, the Petit Elite I call them. Jennifer is a wonderful young songwriter whose life path took a hard right turn. Now traveling a road less traveled Jennifer has stumbled through the garden gate this year and left a bounty of goodness in her wake ~ for she is queen of the rake. In addition Jen has learned to drive an '84 Ford stick shift truck and has witnessed first hand, the jaw dropping power of drought and flood. Be the first on your block and check her music out at on myspace and tell her a lil' bird named Robin sent you.