A Conversation with Jennifer Smock

Jennifer Smock had some big shoes to fill when she replaced the late June Hutson as Manager of Missouri Botanical Garden’s Kemper Center Programs and Landscapes.

“June was a beloved member of our team, a wonderful volunteer after her retirement, and one of my most cherished mentors.”

Jennifer oversees the 23 demonstration gardens surrounding the Kemper Center for Home Gardening, the Children’s Garden, and the team responsible for the annual designs throughout the Garden’s grounds. “I oversee all of the educational outreach activities of the Kemper Center for Home Gardening.  This includes the Plant Finder online database, the educational resources that are on our website.”  She also oversees the Plant Doctor Desk, Horticulture Answer Service, and other educational activities within the building.

“I’m not a person who grew up just knowing this is what I wanted to do with my life.  I really sort of lucked into this profession.” Jennifer says she found her passion for the profession when taking a horticulture class at Rolla High School and joined the FFA. (Future Farmers of America) “This program showed me art can come in more forms than just drawing, painting and sculpture.  I was TERRIBLE at art, I hated art class, but when she put those plants in my hand, I could create beautiful bouquets and (at the time) landscapes mixing colors, textures, and forms.”

Her senior year internship solidified that she wanted to work in a botanical garden, working outdoors as a horticulturist while educating every day. 

The best part of her job is the diversity, which runs from administrative, to design, even weed pulling. Plant material is sourced from all over the world. “Other than botanical gardens, there isn’t a profession I can think of where you get to interact with this much species diversity. We interact with a variety of visitors who come through our doors, but we also interact globally with homeowners and professionals that use our resources in their countries. During my plant collection trips to other countries, I often live alongside my hosts. Those opportunities have not only provided me with lifelong friendships, but have allowed me to experience cultural diversity in a way I would never get if I were a tourist. They are experiences that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

Collection trips abroad are not all flowers and butterflies.

Jen has been;

-Electrocuted trying to take a shower.

-Hit a cow with my car.

-Sat in a patch of stinging nettle.

-Been so sick they’ve had to fly me back home.

-Had no heat or electricity in the middle of a Kyrgyzstan winter so that our hosts could have it.

-Been terrified driving on slick/muddy cliff sides with a drop-off on the side.

-Had dozens of flat tires/dead batteries and broken down cars.

-Hiked on more sprained ankles than I can count.

The daily ten-mile hikes and working sun-up to sun-down is physically and mentally challenging.

“You are tired, overworked, sometimes sick to your stomach, you miss home, and you just want a cheeseburger, but you have to keep going.” 

“These are adventures of a lifetime once you get back home but living through can be very tough and it makes you realize how privileged a life that you lead.”

Back home, resources for projects and staff are her biggest challenge.  “We fight very hard for more resources and at times have had to think very creatively, but you don’t always get them in the timeframe others expect. It’s tough.”

When it comes to design, she has a passion for the Arts and Crafts era of English Gardening.  “It harmonized the formality of topiary and hedges from the era before with the naturalistic way plants grow in nature. In design, it unified the house and its surroundings so that they were considered a whole. It’s what I consider to be the most ornamental cottage gardening style. I also loved that they brought art back into the elements of a garden. Gates and urns were once statement pieces with unique designs.”

The big question when Jennifer took over at the Kemper Center was how to fill the shoes of a woman like June Hutson? Jennifer’s answer, “I can’t; I wear a different size shoe than she did.” Jennifer plans on keeping June’s legacy alive while pushing forward. “I love that I am a part of something greater.  Sure, my contributions may feel small, but I do feel like our resources make a difference.  Whether it be through my collection trip efforts to save rare flora or simply teaching a homeowner how to save their dying plant, I feel like I’ve made a difference every day I come to work. That’s a powerful feeling.”

Words by Jo Batzer. Photography curtesy of Jennifer Smock.

Plant Geek QUICK FACTS

Favorite Garden ever visited- RHS (Royal Horticultural Society, UK) Garden Wisely. Probably because it is the next closest thing to Kemper that the world has as a resource for homeowners. It’s a stunning garden with wonderful plant diversity, and I’ve spent several days walking their collections. My honorable mentions would be The Eden Project again for their fantastic displays, Great Dixter for its quirky personality, and Hidcote because it’s my favorite gardening style. (Wisely, The Eden Project, Great Dixter, and Hidcote gardens are all located in the UK)

Favorite gardening tool- A good ole stirrup hoe or a Pro-hoe for weeding. Also, of course, my A.M. Leonard pink hori-hori knife.  It goes everywhere with me.

If she could have lunch with any other plant geek, dead or living, it would be– Gertrude Jeykll. Being a strong female landscape designer when women really didn’t work in this profession is inspiring to me.  She combined her ability for painting landscapes with a new vision in design and created hundreds of gardens. I love the concepts in her books, but I would love the opportunity to sit down with her and hear her talk about design.

Words by Jo Batzer, photos provided by Jennifer Smock.

© Jo Batzer, garden-lou.com, All rights reserved.