Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Age: 67
Education: Bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology from Roosevelt University, Chicago
Career: Human resources at Union Pacific
Hobbies: Master gardener at Douglas and Sarpy County Extension in Omaha; gardening indoors and out; Loveland Golden K Kiwanis Club
In retirement, Bob Elkins dug into gardening — really dug in.
He became a master gardener.
Last year, Elkins volunteered more than 370 hours — answering callers' questions at the Extension office for Douglas and Sarpy Counties; working in two public gardens, Swanson Library and Walnut Creek; and compiling a master gardener calendar, a 13-month informational calendar on waterwise gardening that's a fundraiser for master gardener projects in the community.
When he retired from Union Pacific Railroad's human resources department 11 years ago, he was looking for something to do.
He laughs and restates that comment: His wife was looking for something for him to do.
Gardening had always appealed to him. But as a city guy, an apartment dweller from Chicago, he was pretty green.
So when a friend suggested master gardener training, he went to an orientation and was impressed.
In addition to the basic training, one full day a week in February and March, the program involves 15 hours of continuing education and 40 hours of volunteer service in the year after completing the program.
Elkins' passion has led him to be a master gardener for seven years.
His continuing education has included actual university-sponsored courses and hands-on experience.
Elkins loves putting his knowledge to use here in Omaha, but some of the plants he wants to learn about grow in the gardens of Xalapa, Mexico. He and his wife, Connie, who has family in Xalapa, spend time there every year.
"I've been trying every year to volunteer in Xalapa's gardens, but nobody volunteers there. I know very little about tropical plants."
A few of those plants hold special interest: One is a woody plant with red flowers that hang like pendants dangling from an earring; a Mexican weeping pine tree; and the bougainvillea, which seems to be everywhere and ever-blooming.
Before he became a master gardener, Elkins would return from an extended trip only to find that his own plants were shriveled and dead. Now he and Connie leave for Mexico when the temperatures here plummet.
It's another solution to water-wise gardens that works most years. Let the snow provide a protective blanket.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1059, rhonda.stansberry@owh.com
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