The work of a gardener is never done.

Just listen to Mary Beth McCormac as she plants salvia in the Fragrance Garden, which is this Tuesday’s task for the Arboretum’s Ornamental Gardens volunteer group. [Note: This interview was conducted in May 2023.]

“We start weeding in late March and we weed all the way through to planting season,” she said. “So, we just started planting. Then we’ll weed some more for a while. Then we swap stuff out and swap stuff in.

“It’s really rewarding when you plant stuff and actually see your work come to life. We planted tulips in the fall. When you come back and see them (blooming) it’s very gratifying.”

Mary Beth is a retired schoolteacher.

“I spent 40 years in education, and plants don’t talk back to you,” she says with a smile.

Now she spends time planting on some days and volunteering as a greeter in the Kentucky Children’s Garden on others.

She also is a city appointee on The Arboretum Advisory Board, which advises the Chair of the UK Department of Horticulture and The Arboretum’s director on Arboretum operations and programs.

In addition to salvia on this windy Tuesday in early May, volunteers plant a couple of kinds of basil, citronella, oregano, hyssop, sages and “lots of things that smell good,” said Jesse Dahl, The Arboretum’s Senior Horticulturist who directs the Ornamental Gardens volunteers in their work in the Fragrance Garden, the Kentucky Children’s Garden, the Reflections Memorial Rose Garden and the Home Demonstration Garden.

Two others also were volunteering on that Tuesday:

Ric McGee, who for years was the director of Ashland Terrace, a senior living community for women. Ric still volunteers in the cutting garden there, which is called “Ric’s Garden.”

When asked why she also is an Arboretum volunteer, she first mentions that she is a master gardener and has a commitment to do volunteer work. Then she quickly mentions another reason.

“I have been friends with (former Lexington Urban County Council member) Fernita Wallace, who helped put this Arboretum together, and I just have a place in my heart for it. I think it is a fabulous part of Lexington.”

Cindy Ryle, who worked for a commercial advertising company and was an interior designer for 25 years.

When she was working on her Housing and Interior Design degree from the University of Kentucky, something happened that almost made her change her mind.

“I took a few courses in horticulture in my last year of college and if it hadn’t been so late I would have changed my major to landscape architecture,” she said. “And now I’m doing what I want to do.

“This is a great place to volunteer especially when you’re rewarded when things start popping out of the ground.”