Local garden club green thumb moving on

Over the past three decades, Marsha McPheeters has brought
beauty to Healdsburg through her work with the Healdsburg Garden
Club. Although she plans to move to Oregon in the near future,
residents will continue to enjoy gardens she’s created for many
years to come.
“The garden club has supported renewal and creation of gardens
or plants and flowers and trees around Healdsburg, and really from
Windsor to Geyserville. After years of doing other things ([in the
club), I became the beautification chairman,” McPheeters, life
garden club member who has been part of the club for 25 years,
said.
The rest is history. McPheeters has spearheaded garden
development and renovation at the Healdsburg Animal Shelter, the
Healdsburg District Hospital (both emergency room and staff break
area), Alliance Medical Center, the senior apartments by Badger
Park, the city’s rose garden, the senior apartments at Grove
Street, Geyserville School, and Westside School — just to name a
few.
“Unbeknownst to anyone, she goes back to these places and checks
on them long afterwards,” said Cynthia DeMartiniti, a fellow
Healdsburg Garden Club Member.
And those succulents sprouting up in the median of the five-way
intersection on the south end of town? That’s McPheeters’
handiwork, too.
“I said Matthew [Thompson, Parks Manager], I want to plant
there. And he said ‘Okay, go for it.’ Well, I went there and
brought my shovel and it went kerthunk. And there was just 3 inches
of soil on top of the road,” McPheeters recalled.
“So I said Matthew, get your jackhammers out and get me through
to the dirt. And one day I went through the road, and I went to the
stop sign, and Matthew was out there with a couple of guys and
jackhammers, breaking through the road for me.”
The succulents themselves came from McPheeters’ home garden,
which is less a garden and more a succulent sanctuary. McPheeters
estimates it’s one of the top five largest cactus gardens in the
state of California. It contains adult agave plants that range from
three inches to 21 feet in size, all beautiful illustrations of
natural geometry (as well as natural defense mechanisms.)
The unique garden often has cactus blooming, even though some of
the plants bloom only once a decade or so. The meandering paths,
abundant agaves and towering yucca reflect McPheeter’s passion for
geometry and simplicity, as well as her husband’s love of antique
machine parts.
“Wally said that I couldn’t go on having a cactus garden without
having a model T ford fender with bullet holes in it, so he went
into the backyard and got one,” McPheeters said, gesturing to one
of the garden’s more unusual decorations, also noting that she and
Wally will celebrate 50 years of marriage next March.
But, McPheeters isn’t one for the spotlight. She’s quick to
point out that she couldn’t have accomplished anything without the
resources provided by the garden club, other community members and
her family, including her grandson Michael, who she has raised for
17 years. But her friends and colleagues are determined to give her
the attention she deserves, and made it clear that McPheeters is a
rare sort of person in this world.
“She knows the Latin botanical names of every single plant in
her garden,” said Cynthia DeMartini, friend and fellow garden club
member. “She just has this indomitable spirit. No matter what life
throws at her, she’s never dispirited. She’s just always
positive—she’s really the eternal optimist.”
And whatever role she takes, she performs with all her heart.
She served as the treasurer of the club for many years.
“We couldn’t imagine having anyone as treasurer but her,” fellow
garden club member Susan Rose said.
And McPheeters does have a bit of a wild side to match her wild
cactus garden.
“Sometimes she dyes her hair bright red or wears wigs. She’s
funny like that,” DeMartini said.
But more unusual than bright red hair or wigs is the way
McPheeters has tirelessly and quietly worked to bring beauty to her
community.
“I was raised an only child. The club has become an extended
family, and the town with it. I have been pruning the climbing
roses on the wall at the junior high school since there was a
letter in the paper asking for someone to take the person’s place…
there are 23 climbers and it takes a long time. I suppose I’ll be
looking for someone to take my place soon,” McPheeters said.
She considers herself lucky to have worked on so many
gardens.
“I get to look at all these things and I’ve touched them, I’ve
made them better. Anybody who makes stuff that other people can
share enjoys that, and that’s just what I’m doing,” McPheeters
said.
“I’m grateful for being able to do this, and see and touch the
things I’ve seen and touched. It’s bigger. It is now to where I
can’t do it all anymore. Now we’re going to move and it’s all over.
And that’s tough.”
Will she come back to visit her gardens?
“That’s what airplanes are for… planes go both ways,” McPheeters
said.
McPheeters is always happy to give locals a tour of her
magnificent cactus garden, and since she will be moving she is also
happy to give away any of her many unusual cactus varieties (as
long as she has more than one plant). She hopes to find them good
homes and welcomes inquiries.
Marsha can be reached at 433-8084. The garden club will hold its
annual sale the first Sunday in May of next year.
Lynda Hopkins can be reached at [email protected].