Meet Kay Haller: Master Gardener extraordinaire!

Let’s get it right out there! Kay Haller is a Master Gardener extraordinaire!  In her nearly 25 years as a member of SWIMGA, she has compiled an unequaled 8,400 volunteers hours.

Gardening is something that she has a passion for. It was introduced to her when she was a young girl living on a family farm near Morganfield, Kentucky. “My grandmother was really into plants, and I helped her,” Kay said. “I grew up on a 350-acre farm with corn, beans, cows, hogs, chickens — even exotic animals like zebras, llamas and emus.”

Life on the farm meant getting up early and going to bed late. “We raised all our steers. We’d get up at 4:30 am, feed the calves, and then go to school.”  When she got off of the school bus, the farm work continued. “We fed the cows, and we made homemade feed for them.”

In 1968, Kay moved to Evansville where she studied to become a certified surgical technologist. “I worked surgery at St. Mary’s for 46 years. I really enjoyed it.”

In 1996, one of the nurses at the hospital suggested that they take a Master Gardening class together. “I said, ‘It sounds good to me.’ I was working 10-hour nights, so I took a recorder with me in case I fell asleep.”  She knew about farming and surgery, but she said she learned a lot about gardening in the class.

Master gardening was a good fit for her. “I love flowers, and I love being outdoors. It was the perfect thing to do.” Kay was SWIMGA’s historian for two years.

She was a member of the board of directors in 2005 when the State of Indiana gave a parcel of land to SWIMGA; it is now the Display Garden.  She remembers going out and looking at the property, meeting with public officials, even helping to remove over 5,000 bricks from the area.

She helped get the gazebo from Welborn Clinic. She also was involved in moving the log cabin to the Display Garden site. “I helped chink it, and in 2015 I found someone to restore it.”

She became the chair of the Display Garden in 2010.  Her work there continues, despite the pandemic. She works with all of the chairs of the various gardens, noting that all volunteers must practice safe social distancing and wear face masks.

Kay has also taken on the responsibility of seven or eight of the gardens herself “because people are still having weddings there. I don’t want the gardens to get out of hand. We are trying to keep them in shape.”

And that’s not all!

She and her husband, Mike, own a three-acre piece of property that includes one-and-a-half acres filled with flower and vegetable gardens. “We have a water pond feature, rabbits and chickens, and two greenhouses. We are getting ready to put another one up.”

She also cares for 450 house plants. “One is from my grandmother. It’s from 1960. She got it in California when we went out to see the Rose Bowl Parade.”

When Kay was asked what she would say to people thinking about becoming Master Gardeners, she answers, “I think they would love it. You have to enjoy plants and being outside. You learn so much from each other. It’s just wonderful!”

Story courtesy of Mary Ann Hughes