Volunteer keeps downtown Doniphan in bloom

DONIPHAN — Avid gardener Fran Stewart isn’t “quite contrary,” like “Mary,” but her petunias and zinnias are every bit as well behaved as the silver bells and cockle shells spoken of in the familiar nursery rhyme.

Fran’s handiwork can be admired at the sectional planter west of the courthouse which showcases the “Tribute to Current River” stone memorial.

She says she became involved in city beautification when Doniphan Mayor Dennis Cox approached her and said, “Fran, I’ve got a project in mind for you.”

Cox told her he needed someone dependable to maintain the city’s feature flower garden. She gladly consented.

“I was so happy that he asked me,” she says.

For the most part, the city provides the plants. However, Fran admits she contributes not only her time, skill and labor but also money toward the project as well. It’s hard work, but she says she gets a lot of personal gratification out of turning an otherwise plain plot of ground into something vibrant and attractive that the community as a whole can enjoy.

Fran and her husband, Bill Stewart, previously tackled their gardening projects as a team. She helped him with his vegetable garden, and he helped her with her flowers. However, Mr. Stewart recently passed away.

“Bill and I used to enjoy walking in the woods and along creeks looking for rocks and pieces of driftwood for my arrangements,” she says.

She prefers natural elements to complement her plants, because they don’t look quite so formal or staged.

“In fact, sometimes I like to use broken pots because they have more character than something new,” she says.

She admits she has “even broken them on purpose,” to get the look she wants.

One of Fran’s favorite arrangements at home features an old bicycle. Her special artistry in landscaping caught the attention of the Doniphan R-I Beta Club, who awarded her Yard of the Month honors for June.

Fran says for her, gardening isn’t a cause for grumbling, but “a calming and soothing” pastime with therapeutic benefits.

During times of sadness or stress, she says, “Gardening helps me get through the day.”

She finds pleasure, a sense of purpose, and even healing in the simple exercise of “digging in the dirt, planting and tending to” plants and shrubs, and her favorite time of day is evenings when she does her watering.

“Plants are like little babies. You just have to take care of them, give them water and food and the right amount of attention, and they will bloom,” she says.

She denies having a green thumb and claims no secret formula other than love, (with a little help from the makers of Miracle Gro). However, she also says it is extremely important to dead-head (remove the dried, dead blooms to promote growth of new ones), and to be diligent about weeding. She feels strongly that mechanical weedeaters have no use in a flower garden. She prefers the old-fashioned method of pulling the weeds by hand.

“That’s the only way to keep weeds like Bermuda grass from taking over,” she insists.

Fran’s garden philosophy is, that every home needs a plant and every plant needs a home.

While out shopping, occasionally she says she finds “strays,” small pieces of plants that have broken off the parent plant.

“I can’t just let them lay there and die,” she says.

Instead, she saves their lives. She picks them up, and when she gets home she puts them in water to revive them. She has a huge, thriving hanging Wandering Jew that started out as a stray.

Fran’s appreciation for horticulture can be traced back to her childhood, growing up on a cotton farm in Southeast Missouri. She was one of eight children, four girls and four boys, born to Ralph and Ida Barker. She recalls that as a little girl, when she wasn’t hoeing or picking cotton, she was more than likely out in the fields picking wild flowers to decorate the family home.

She also made wall plaques by cutting and gluing magazine photos of flowers onto pieces of wood.

“Families were poor back then, and that’s what we did to brighten things up,” she says.

Although Fran says she still finds beauty in the simplicity of wild flowers, she chooses blooming plants for her gardens for their color, variety and hardiness. Among her favorites are petunias, marigolds, zinnias and vincas.