At age 79, Margaret Johnston is
”
out-volunteering
”
much of the community, and she’s showing no signs of slowing
down.
Morgan Hill – At age 79, Margaret Johnston is “out-volunteering” much of the community, and she’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Johnston, a lifelong gardener, is the founder of Morgan Hill’s Adopt-A-Planter program, through which volunteers pitch in to keep 90 planter boxes in bloom between Dunne Avenue and Main Street.
Thanks to her service, Morgan Hill residents enjoy a downtown awash in colorful flowers, adding to the pleasant scene city officials envisioned in the early 1980s when they vowed to rebuild an impersonal stretch of Monterey Road into today’s tree-lined, flower-laden shopping district.
“I always enjoyed downtown growing up,” said Johnston, who was raised in San Martin. “But it didn’t always look that good.”
Johnston pitched the idea for an Adopt-A-Planter program to the Morgan Hill City Council in 1998, after several previous attempts at keeping downtown’s flower beds alive and well had floundered. For the most part, the city has relied on volunteers over the years to do this work.
After getting the green light from the city, Johnston planted the first 80 planters by herself, and was soon joined by a host of volunteers.
Today, more than 50 local volunteers spend time every week monitoring the city’s downtown flower beds. The city provides the water for the blossoms, but the “adopters” provide the vigilance to guard against wear and tear and vandalism to the sprinkler systems, which Johnston said are under continuous attack from the urban elements.
“The biggest challenge is the water,” she said. That is, making sure enough of it gets to the flowers. If one plastic sprinkler head breaks, she said, the entire system goes kaput for lack of water pressure.
The adopters also perform the delicate and artistic duty of planting the seasonal blossoms, a service that saves the city money each year.
Spring varieties include narcissuses and daffodils, and fall and winter blooms include pansies, primroses and Iceland poppies.
Johnston makes frequent visits to Morgan Hill’s Cal-Color nursery grounds, which donates most of the flowers featured downtown.
“I feel like a kid in a candy store every time I go down there,” she said, adding the nursery allows her take whatever she needs for downtown’s planting seasons.
Johnston said she enjoys the attention she gets as Morgan Hill’s “flower lady,” but she said it wouldn’t matter if no one stopped and complimented her for her work.
Fresh air, exercise and an active social calendar are keeping her young, and when Johnston’s not walking up and down Monterey Road looking after flowers, she spends time volunteering at the San Martin Presbyterian Church and playing tennis with friends.
Plus, she’s been on the road an awful lot this year, traveling all over the country to visit her seven children and nine grandchildren.
“I’m celebrating my 80th birthday all year long,” she said. “I decided, instead of everyone coming here to visit, it would be easier if I visited all of them.”
But as long as she’s in Morgan Hill, she’ll keep “pluggin’ away” with the flowers.
