State-Journal.com - Gardener digs into history

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Photo By State Journal/Kelly MackeyLiberty Hall Historic Site co-groundskeeper Vicky Baker trims a tree behind Liberty Hall.

Vicky Baker

Photo By State Journal/Kelly MackeyVicky planted Mother’s Day Daisies at the Liberty Hall Historic Site.

Photo By State Journal/Kelly MackeyIsabella Barkley, 5, takes a photo in the Liberty Hall Historic Site garden after she attended a picnic for the First Presbyterian Church preschool on the lawn. Thousands of people enjoy gardener Vicky Baker’s arrangements each year.

Photo By State Journal/Kelly MackeyVicky weeds in-between plants on the Liberty Hall Historic Site. There are irises, daylilies, roses and lilacs, much like those from the 1800s. The yard also contains a Catalpa tree that’s more than 200 years old.

As a child Vicky Baker had no interest in plants.

Her mother would try to get her to work in the family’s gardens. Vicky would have none of it.

“When I was young I just really did not like working in the vegetable garden,” she said.

Things change.

Vicky, 51, is now considered an expert gardener as the co-groundskeeper (she shares the title with husband, Ron) for Liberty Hall Historic Site and the Orlando Brown House on Wilkinson Street.

People travel the nation to see her work, authors call for information and would-be botanists seek advice.

“Now it’s definitely work, but it’s work that I enjoy.”
After working in a factory for 10 years, Vicky left to raise a son, Orion. Soon after she joined forces with a friend, Richard Green, who had a business, Green Gardens.

Richard was killed in a farm accident in January 1993. Vicky went ahead and completed jobs he’d lined up.

Richard’s widow said Vicky could take over clients, but she wanted her to start a business under a different name. Vicky and Ron got a business license and went to gardening under the name Monterey Landscape Company.

That’s where it all began.

While working there she painted signs, designed gardens and kept financial records. She was also schooled in vegetation.

“I learned quite a bit about plants,” she said.

Getting dirty

Vicky soon began taking classes, attending seminars and reading everything she could about the trade.

In the summer of 1993, word of her knowledge spread to Orlando Brown House leaders, who wanted her to tend their gardens.

At that time, Liberty Hall and the Orlando Brown House – former homes of U.S. Sen. John and Margaretta Brown and their descendents – were separate entities. Vicky said the administration for the Orlando Brown House asked her to work on its landscape.

When the two historic properties combined in 1994, Vicky became groundskeeper for both. Her son was battling leukemia at the time, and she was nervous about taking on another job. But Orion fought the disease, enabling Vicky to take the groundskeeper position.

She’s been there ever since.

Now she can recite the history of the property, how former owner Margaretta Brown brought roses around 1801, how bricks from the home now line the garden’s path and about the 1994 freeze that wiped out the boxwood.

“I’ve read so many things people have written about this place,” she said.

When she first started, she maintained an already redesigned garden.

“Then we started trying to make things more historically accurate,” she said.

Staying true to the original

Vicky tries to keep the garden close to its earliest form – originally it spread across four acres, now it’s between two and two and a half. There are irises, daylilies, roses and lilacs much like those from the 1800s. The yard contains a Catalpa tree that’s more than 200 years old.

“We try to keep a lot of perennials, and we try to keep plants we think the Brown family would have had access to,” she said.

She reads Thomas Jefferson’s diaries to try to get a feel for what plants the Browns may have liked.

“They were plant seekers,” she said.

The job has afforded her the opportunity to meet interesting people.

Almost a decade ago a homeless man – Leonard – set up camp near some shrubbery. She spoke with him from time to time and he would tell stories about his childhood visits through the grounds on his way to a swimming hole.

“It was an interesting encounter because he knew quite a bit of history about the house,” Vicky said.

She said one day Leonard just disappeared. She’s sorry she missed the opportunity to pick his brain more.

“There are always people who are looking for more information about this place,” she said. “The more I learn, the more information I need.”

Tending to the garden

Vicky – who is paid a salary – gives tours of the gardens. In the spring she spends at least two days a week on the grounds.

“I weed,” she said. “I tell people when I’m working to try to keep up with me.”

She comes in routinely to check irrigation, install, fertilize and observe the plants. She doesn’t do much with trees other than checking for broken limbs. An arborist takes care of bigger tasks, and volunteers give her a hand with other upkeep.

“There are so many things I’m responsible for,” she said.

For instance, she helped create the site brochure. Two months of the year – during the winter – she spends time reading letters about Liberty Hall and Orlando Brown for re-opening the garden in the spring.

Of course, Mother Nature doesn’t always cooperate.

This past winter’s ice storm left some minor damage to the gardens. Tree branches broke, but things are starting to rejuvenate.

Lately there’s been an abundance of rain, which isn’t good for the vegetation, Vicky said.

Future growth

But, when the weather is good, the property is picturesque.

People use the grounds for yoga, lunch or a place to read. There are weddings, receptions and other events too. Vicky said she would like to lend the gardens to musical performances and drama productions.

“That’s something I would like to get going.”

There are plant sales to raise funds for the site, and if a plant starts to overgrow, Vicky thins it out by sending pieces of the plant home with visitors.

“I like giving plants away and playing with plants to try to get new ones started,” she said.

She hopes to branch out.

“I would like to have a vegetable garden with heirloom plants,” she said.

She wants to make it a community garden and allow tastings of the bounty.

Vicky – who sometimes works 12-hour days – lives in Owen County and still owns Monterey Landscape Company. She credits her husband with the success of the business and making the work enjoyable – he does mowing and trimming.

She said gardening is good exercise, but all of the bending over routinely lands her at the chiropractor.

Still, it’s worth it.

“I like working with plants,” she said. “I like talking about it and I meet a lot of people here.”

“Frankfort Faces” is a series that highlights people from within the Frankfort and Franklin County community. Each feature follows one of the city’s most unique personalities and includes a story, photos and video, which can be found by clicking the TV icon attached to the story online at state-journal.com.