Interview with Dana Downs, September 2022
By Jane Gulley
I had the opportunity to interview Dana Downs this month. Dana has had an interesting life. She grew up in Connecticut and joined the military where she served in the medical field.
During that period of time she married and moved to Texas. She did some gardening and credits her mother for instilling a love of gardening in her life. Dana helped her mother in the garden and although Dana hated weeding, she loved the peacefulness and sense of accomplishment. She did not have much time to garden after moving to Texas because she started her family-4 children. In fact, not only was she the mother of four children she went back to school to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a nurse. She was also working full time. Dana said she did not have time to garden, and I wondered when she had time to sleep or eat.
After her children were grown Dana made time in her life for gardening. She and her husband moved again and later in Dana’s words, “her life ebbed and flowed.” Dana and her husband divorced and later her life changed again when she met the love of her life and remarried. Her husband is not a gardener and is happiest with plain, simple, and green. Opposites attract!
Even though Dana and her husband have differing gardening styles, Dana has maintained her involvement in Master Gardeners. She joined in 2002 but had to take a leave of absence to care for her parents who are now deceased. Dana said again how much her late mother influenced her life. Her mother’s love of flowers, especially geraniums, has stayed with Dana. Dana loves the red blooms, ease of care, and the wonderful memories.
To help Dana with her gardening chores she likes to use a root slayer. Several of the MG that have been interviewed have chosen the root slayer as their favorite gardening helper. I asked Dana what her favorite gardening success was and she said it was when she threw wildflower seeds mixed with tomato and cucumber plants into a new garden plot. The plot turned into a beautiful spot with delicious veggies and fruit.
Another success of Dana’s was one she did not realize. Mary Evans sang Dana’s praises about Dana’s hard work for the Arkansas Flower and Garden Shows. Mary sent me this nice tribute to Dana, “She came every year for the early work. She helped build so many things, froze her rear off with us, helped at the show for set and take down. Gladly accepted her assignments, no matter how horrible. She helped lots around the whole show. Always smiling and a great attitude in spite of whatever was going on around us.” Dana gives the same commitment to her present MG Project, Pinnacle Mountain, but Dana has interests besides gardening. She enjoys playing with animals, sewing, reading, and helping with her 21-yes 21-grandchildren! It was a pleasure to get to know Dana better-I appreciate her taking the time to volunteer to be interviewed.
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