Application Code:
(for committee use only)
Tennessee Master Gardener Search For Excellence
2011 Application
APPLICATION DEADLINE IS NOVEMBER 30, 2011
NAME OF MG GROUP:
Montgomery County Master Gardener Assoc.
COUNTY: Montgomery County
MASTER GARDENER CONTACT:
NAME Katie Smith
EMAIL
[email protected]
MASTER GARDENER COORDINATOR/EXTENSION STAFF:
NAME
Karla Kean
TITLE
TSU Montgomery County Extension Agent
EMAIL
[email protected]
PHONE 931-648-5725, ext. 31
CATEGORY---MUST SELECT AND SUBMIT IN ONLY ONE CATEGORY
Youth
Demonstration Garden
Workshop or Presentation
✔
Community Service
Innovative Project
Research
Special Needs Audience
COMMENCEMENT DATE OF PROJECT: 2010
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LIST THE NAMES OF MASTER GARDENERS DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN THIS
PROJECT. Do not include their roles or any other individuals in this listing. (Place the
cursor in the box to type a name.)
Katie Smith
Aprile Cacal
Margaret Pace
Shan Smith
If you are using Word, place your cursor in the boxes and click twice. If using PDF, place your
cursor in the box and begin typing.
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT (include name, location, target audience, goals, and
partnerships)
see next page
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The Smith Trahern Mansion is a historical home, built in 1858, that overlooks the
Cumberland River in downtown Clarksville, Tennessee. While owned by the city, it is
staffed and operated by the Extension organization Family Community Education
Association (FCE), a volunteer group that has maintained the mansion for over 26
years. It is the only historical home in Clarksville open to the public for tours and
rentals. The small user fee is used to pay for utilities, enabling it to remain open to
the public. The FCE is responsible for the inside of the mansion, while the city
maintains the outside of the mansion and the yard. The mansion is in high demand
for rentals, tours, weddings, and meetings resulting in an average of 300 people
visiting the mansion each week, according to the tally kept by the FCE. The stressed
city budget cannot even fund the major repairs needed to the outside of the mansion,
much less hire a grounds keeper for the mansion. Without the Master Gardeners,
there would be no colorful gardens to greet visitors and inspire them to rent the
mansion for events. The original gardens, created and maintained by a FCE
member, became a Montgomery County Master Gardener project in the early 1990s
when the volunteer could no longer care for them. The city mows the large lawn and
Master Gardeners are the caretakers for the gardens. The entrance to the mansion
is the back of the building and the focal point for our project which in addition to
providing ambiance, also directs people to the entrance of the house. In 2004, I
signed up as co-chair for this project with the bones of the gardens already in place,
but packed full of invasive perennials and overgrown flower beds with plants fighting
for dominance. A colorful spring and early summer left the beds with only faded,
weedy perennials until the following year. Our main goal is neat and orderly gardens
greeting visitors as they walk to the entrance by utilizing the existing plants into a
garden plan that maintains the integrity of the antebellum home and flows with the
traffic of public use. Since the mansion is a historical building, we are not there on a
daily basis, watering an issue, funding minimal, and the gardens subject to public
abuse, our plan is to use old fashioned plants that are drought hardy, low
maintenance, low budget, and public friendly. We strive for neat and well maintained
gardens rather than showy gardens. Much of our plan is understated and yet makes
a big impact. We utilized perennials already at the mansion, rearranging plants and
pathways to flow with the public traffic. Garden edges are defined, making mowing
much easier for the city and resulting in neat edges for the gardens. The Master
Gardener Association provides a much needed service for the community by
enhancing the historical landmark with welcoming gardens that would not be possible
without them.
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DESCRIBE THE PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT
There were several problems with the existing garden plan. It was overcrowded and
did not flow well with public traffic. For the most part, we utilized what already
existed at the mansion, rearranging plants and pathways. People walked from the
parking lot and down a few steps onto a brick walkway leading to a long columned
back porch, lined with an overgrown flower bed edged with raised black plastic. We
cleaned out the flower bed and replaced the plastic edging along the back porch with
an edge built from bricks original to the house (collected in the yard), creating an old
fashioned look. From the brick walkway, people walked through the gardens as a
shortcut to the sidewalk leading to the patio, which resulted in compacted soil,,
harming nearby plants. By purchasing a small stack of bricks from an old estate for
$10, we created a brick walkway connecting the 2 sidewalks. The small walk
improved traffic flow so people no longer cut through gardens. Many of the existing
perennials were historical plants, but for any additional flowers, we used plants
original to the 19th century. To the left of the brick walk, leading to the mansion was
a small overgrown flower bed packed with invasive perennials. dominated by peonies
and irises. We moved the irises to the area in front of the adjacent patio and left
mainly peonies. Missing from the gardens was summer and early fall color. We felt
that a rose bush is authentic to the period, but chose the new variety Knock Out rose
because of low maintenance and long blooming season. Old fashioned tall zinnias
seeds sowed in the bed with the peonies, resulted in a spectacular colorful display
lasting into the fall. Planters of geraniums placed on each side of the doors add a
welcoming touch. They reflect the historical period and provide a splash of color
from April through November. The concrete patio flanking the side addition to the
mansion has a circular area next to the house (left open as an access to the
plumbing) that was packed with a variety of overgrown odd perennials planted with
no semblance of order. We replaced them with black-eyed Susan that are drought
hardy and thrive in the hot sunny area, that we moved from an overcrowded area in
the gardens. They provide bright color in a well used area outside the mansion.
Fading flower heads are a food source for goldfinches that are at the mansion in
abundance. Along the low rock wall separating the yard from the parking lot is a
small garden bed. Instead of planting costly annuals every year, we utilized existing
perennials by dividing an overlooked antique spiderwort lily struggling in the nook by
the chimney on the side of the house. We spaced them to fill the garden spot where
they flourish. Outside the kitchen door, the main entrance for visitors, we planted a
small herb garden which educates people and the herbs are used in the kitchen.
Public use often dictates a change in our garden plan. After planting the herbs,
people cut across the edge of the herb garden to the kitchen door, packing down an
area of dormant herbs to the point they were struggling. We rearranged the herbs
and widened the narrow brick walkway with some of our old bricks. The bigger
walkway improved traffic flow into the kitchen entrance and we revamped our little
herb garden with a better selection in the process. Although our plan remains the
same, we are constantly improving our project and expanding the perimeters. With
the gardens around the house in shape, we are extending our plan to the exterior of
the nearby servant’s quarters, a focal point from back porch. Our plan for the
servant’s quarters is to create a front façade that would have been original to the era.
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HOW HAS THE PROJECT BEEN FUNDED AND HOW HAVE THOSE FUNDS BEEN
SPENT?
Funding for the Smith Trahern Mansion gardens is done by the FCE organization.
The city mows the lawn and provides mulch for the gardens. Each spring, we
purchase new geraniums for the planters and sometimes hanging ferns for the back
porch. We sow zinnia seeds in the main garden for an economical old fashioned
showy display. When we thin out iris bulbs or perennials at the mansion, the FCE
sells them at the annual Smith Trahern yard sale and gives me the money to put
back into the gardens. We save hollyhock seeds which the FCE packages and sells
in the gift shop. That generates a small amount of money and this year, I purchased
summer phlox with the money. For the most part, perennials are the main source of
the gardens and very little funding is needed to sustain them. Without volunteers
from the Master Gardener Association, the grounds of the mansion would fall into the
hands of the city employees responsible for the outside of the mansion. Due to the
lack of funding, mowing would be the extent of the yard work. Without the Master
Gardeners, there would be no gardens to cheerfully greet visitors and encourage
them to rent the mansion for events.
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DESCRIBE THE OUTCOMES OF THIS PROJECT. HOW HAS IT AUGMENTED
LEARNING, INCREASED KNOWLEDGE OR CHANGED PRACTICES TO ENHANCE
QUALITY OF LIFE? INCLUDE THE METHODS YOU USED TO MEASURE THE
IMPACT OF THE PROJECT. (These impacts could be economical, educational,
environmental, health or community based. SFE projects should be developed to reach the
most people possible from the target audience. Impact numbers are not significant if the
target audience does not learn or utilize the information. Make sure that you ask
participants how this information helped them and record this as an impact. For example,
evaluation questions that ask, “How do you plan to use this information?” or “Can you share
specific information that you learned today?”
see next page
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When the Master Gardeners work at the Smith Trahern mansion, we are constantly
greeted with compliments and thanks from the volunteers staffing to mansion, most
of whom remember the sad, neglected gardens of years gone by. They truly
appreciate the work and effort we put into the gardens and are vocal and consistent
with their praise. Without the volunteer hours and talent of the Master Gardeners,
there would be no gardens to enhance this historical landmark in our city. The FCE
lacks the talent and manpower for the gardens and it is not in the city budget. Our
project greets an average of 300 visitors per week with gardens that maintain the
integrity of the antebellum home. Understated old fashioned plants create an
interest, in contrast to typical commercial landscaping of bushes and annuals.
Visitors leave, inspired to bring back older flower varieties in their own yards and
purchase seeds in the gift shop. A sign informing people the gardens are maintained
by the Master Gardener program promotes our organization. The consistency of the
gardens inspired the city to fund and build a front drive to the mansion which adds a
new dimension to utilization of the mansion. Before the front drive, the steep front
lawn dropped to rocky area next to the road with no front access to the mansion.
Unlike Carnton Plantation in Franklin and the Hermitage in Nashville that hire full
time grounds keepers as well as Master Gardeners to create and maintain gardens,
the Smith Trahern mansion depends on only the Master Gardener Association for
their gardens. Our garden plan of historical, drought hardy, low maintenance, low
budget, and public friendly plants is a successful plan. It educates the public that you
can have neat and orderly gardens without having to spend a lot of time and money
and creates an awareness of historical flowers. If we are unable to work one week,
the gardens remain presentable. We have enhanced the community awareness of a
historical building, boosted rentals, and have become an integral part in ensuring the
Smith Trahern Mansion remains open to the public.
Other impact measurements:
1. The time and talents of the Master Gardener Association provide a service to both
the city of Clarksville and the FCE that otherwise would be missing from the
community. The house would be there for the community, but without impressive
gardens to welcome the 300 visitors, both local and out of town, who visit the
mansion each week
2. Visitors and FCE members compliment the gardens on a regular basis, grateful
for all the work we do.
3. A photo of the mansion gardens is on the front cover of the Montgomery County
Master Gardener brochure.
4. “Mansion Award” on FCE Awards Day 2008 and again in 2009 for overseeing the
work in the gardens, for making the biggest difference to the mansion for the year.
5. Master Gardeners received an award for the year 2010 from the FCE at Awards
day, for their work in the gardens.
6. Smith Trahern gardens were used for the background in the newspaper photo
advertising the Master Gardener’s fall plant sale in 2009.
7. The County Council has quarterly meetings each year where the SmithTrahern
gardens are part of the agenda. We receive 100% approval of our work.
8. Rentals for the mansion stay booked. Rentals are important because they provide
the revenue for paying utilities.
9. The gift of the front drive for the mansion, from the city of Clarksville, adding a new
dimension to use of the mansion.
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