Linda Heath
Linda and her family moved around quite a bit and finally settling in Bloomington in 1993. It wasn’t until 2008 that she became a Master Gardener. She found the educational offerings are so useful, and really appreciated the knowledge she’s gleaned from other MGs over time. Linda believes that “collectively Master Gardeners know a lot!”
Her special gardening interests include shade gardens, roses, and plants with historical significance. These interests led to her volunteerism at the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center at IU where she “gets what I affectionately call my ‘dirt therapy.’”
At Hilltop, she volunteers in the Shade Garden with the “Shady Ladies.” She relates that in the old days gardeners would bring lunch and hang out, remembering that “one lady brought her grandmother along, and she’d visit with us for the day.”
But it was her interest in plants of historical significance that led to the idea of starting a Shakespeare Garden at Hilltop, along with a team of similarly charged administrators, gardeners, and landscape architects. Inspired by Shakespeare Gardens around the country and the world, such as those at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Northwestern University, they compiled lists of plants from Shakespearean times and that are mentioned in his own writing. Of course, some adjustments in plant selection had to be made for differences in climate and availability. Fourteen years later, the garden creates a historical bridge that continues to flourish and educates visitors and gardeners alike.
Her favorite memory about gardening? It is planting roses in the first house where she and her husband lived. “I always had a flower garden wherever we lived; my thought was to leave something for someone else to enjoy. As long as I can still bend in the middle, you’ll find me in the garden!”
You can read more about the Shakespeare Gardens at Hilltop at these links:
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2018/06/iub/inside/26-hilltop-garden-and-nature-center-celebrates-shakespeare.html
https://bloomingtongardenclub.org/hilltop-gardens
