Margaret Johnston has been making things blossom all her life.
And now, at 76, she
’s queen of the garden as this year’s Morgan Hill Woman of the
Year. The Chamber of Commerce annual Showcase Awards recognize the
“cream of the crop” in individuals, businesses and organizations
for their community service.
Margaret Johnston has been making things blossom all her life. And now, at 76, she’s queen of the garden as this year’s Morgan Hill Woman of the Year. The Chamber of Commerce annual Showcase Awards recognize the “cream of the crop” in individuals, businesses and organizations for their community service.
Johnston is the city’s very own “Flower Lady.” In 1998, the lifelong gardener grew tired of seeing downtown planters in various states of disrepair. Johnston made a presentation before City Council and talked to downtown merchants about breathing new life into the beautification program.
Many downtown watchers were skeptical because previous attempts at sustaining a program had failed. It didn’t take long to make believers out of even the most ardent critics as Johnston and her crew transformed Monterey Road with brilliant splashes of color in the 90 planters between Main Street and Dunne Avenue.
“It’s satisfying to see how nice the place can look,” said Johnston. “People drive by and wave and say, ‘hi flower lady.’ ”
“I planted 80 at first by myself,” added Johnston.
But after several months of intense physical work and cold and wet evenings (water had to be carried to each planter the first year because the irrigation system wasn’t working), Johnston realized she couldn’t do it alone.
“That’s when I talked to Karen Lengsfield, the volunteer coordinator at the city,” said Johnston. “And we came up with the Adopt-a-Planter program.”
Johnston scatters seeds of friendship wherever she goes. She’s a member of the local Flower Lover’s Club, Happy Sounds (a singing group that visits retirement and nursing homes) and is active in the San Martin Presbyterian Church.
She is also well known as a friendly taxi – transporting people to the hospital, grocery store or wherever needed.
“I vowed to take anybody anywhere the rest of my life because I knew what it was like to not have a car,” said Johnston, who had three children before she and her husband could afford a car.
But Johnston’s passion for gardening was ignited long before she settled into family life. Her father, Edgar Turgeon, bought her a cold frame – a wooden structure covered with plastic for planting seeds — on the 20-acre orchard where she grew up in San Martin.
“It was exciting to plant seeds and watch them grow,” reminisced Johnston.
Johnston graduated from Live Oak High School and later earned a nursing degree. In 1948 she spotted, but didn’t meet, her future husband on a cruise ship to Alaska. She got Ralph’s name from a purser and preceded to write him upon returning home – a bold move for a woman in 1948.
“I didn’t dream it was going to lead to anything. I just thought, ‘I never got a picture of that cute little man.’ I just wanted a picture to put in my album,” laughed Johnston.
Ralph wrote back and visited twice from Seattle before proposing. Margaret applied to the “Bride and Groom” television show and the couple was chosen. They were married in Hollywood and honeymooned in Santa Barbara – all courtesy of the program.
The couple moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., where they raised seven children in a six-bedroom home on three acres. She now has nine grandchildren.
Johnston’s eldest, Peggy, remembers always having a huge vegetable garden.
“Gardening was the only thing I remember my mom doing for herself,” said Peggy, who lives in Cupertino. “Gardening is something she did for her soul, and for family necessities.”
But after 27 years of married life, Ralph died of cancer. Three months later Johnston was attending a wedding in the Bay Area. She had accompanied her mother to a friend’s house on Murphy Avenue and before they left Johnston was so smitten with the house she verbally bought it on the spot.
Johnston’s mother, who was 88 at the time, lived in the house until Margaret could join her four years later when Johnston’s son, David, finished school in Michigan. The two women lived together until her mother died at the age of 100.
Peggy said, “I remember when mom came back to California and I started looking at her differently – as an adult and through the eyes of others who love her.
“When we were growing up she was always doing for others and being kids we were kind of jealous.
“Yesterday we were at a memorial service in Morgan Hill and people were referring to my mom as angel because she does so much for others,” Peggy said proudly.
But Johnston is modest when asked how long she’ll continue to be the driving force in keeping downtown Morgan Hill blossoming.
“I think I’m going to do it for awhile.”
