More Than Green Thumbs
How Bob and Debbie Wicks—and a 55-Year-Old Garden Club—Cultivate Beauty and Bonding
Sitting on the back patio of Bob and Debbie Wicks’ home, you’ll find a slice of solitude. Colorful plants of all kinds dot the landscape. Some are in the ground. Others are perched in colorful pots. All give a nod to this couple’s green thumbs.
Bob has been a master gardener for nearly 18 years, and if you ask Debbie, she’s had her hands in the dirt since she was a kid.
“I’ve been gardening, literally, forever. I remember my mom giving me seeds and telling me, ‘Just go plant these,’” Debbie says. “I’ve always had a big garden. I’d spend half the day out weeding while my kids were in school.”
A little over a year ago, Bob and Debbie traded their acre of land outside Park City to move into the West-end home where Bob’s dad lived for 45 years. They leveled the landscape, took out a big elm tree planted smack dab in the middle of the yard, replaced the sod, removed a whole host of boulders, and took down the Englemann ivy that had taken over the covered patio.
“This is year one,” Debbie says as she looks around to all the areas that now play home to annuals and perennials.
As Bob points out the different plants, more than a dozen friends he’s grown over the last four years nod and ask questions. They are all members of the Thumb-R-Green Garden Club, a group of hobby and master gardeners who get together once a month to talk about all things green. Bob is the president of the club that’s been going strong for 55 years.
Debbie was drawn to this group five years ago after the isolation of Covid started to wear on her.
“Joining the club saved my sanity,” she says with a slight laugh. “I remember thinking, ‘You know, these are people who talk about what I like to talk about.’” Not long after, Bob was roped in when Debbie came home after a meeting and mentioned that they would be hosting a landscape school for all the state garden clubs.
“That’s when I joined,” he said with a smile. Bob has had a love for gardening since his youth watching his Grandpa Miller tend to his garden.
“When he retired, he got into daylilies, and then, he started hybridizing them,” Bob says.
As you walk alongside the couple’s home, some of his grandfather’s lilies have made the move here. They have yet to bloom this summer, but Bob keeps a watchful eye on them.
“My grandpa died when he was 84. These lilies don’t bloom until their second or third year. He swore the last few years of his life that he wasn’t going anywhere until he saw what those flowers looked like. He said, ‘I’ve got too much work into it,’” Bob says.
In another corner of the yard, trumpet vine puts on a colorful show. That, too, was a gift from Grandpa Miller.
“He gave Debbie, before we even got married, a little piece of it,” Bob says. “Now it’s been to three different houses. We just keep digging up pieces of it and bringing it along.” The couple has been married for 31 years.
Just then, a bright yellow tiger swallowtail butterfly flits by, proof that the trumpet vine is doing its job of contributing to what Bob calls his “place for pollinators.”
“I will come out here and just sit and watch the world go by, watch the plants grow,” he says of the joy each little space brings.
He’s not alone. All twenty-some members of the club feel exactly the same way. While they all love plants, they seem to love their fellow club members more.
“I moved out into the country. I had poor soil. It was hot and windy with lots of Ponderosa Pine and sagebrush. I got discouraged over gardening and thought, I might just quit,” says Mary Davis, who has been with the club for 45 years. “But then I thought, I wouldn’t have these friends that I have built over the years.”
“There isn’t a gardener that I have met that I don’t like,” 84-year-old Rosemary Power says. She’s been a member since 2008. “They aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty to get things done.”
The club has had its fair share of projects where they’ve dug in and got their hands dirty. The group tends to some of the beds around the MetraPark grounds. It puts on its annual standard flower show late summer. It decks out a Christmas tree at the Moss Mansion to raise awareness and, for the past nine years, has maintained the Blue Star Memorial at Veteran’s Park in Billings. The memorial honors all men and women that serve in the United States Armed Services. The bronze plaque is surrounded by rows of red and white roses, Shasta daisies, blue salvia, and red and white geraniums, grouped in a patriotic show of color.
Club members Joyce and Ron Hendrickson spend time each week weeding and making sure the plants are well watered.
“If we are going to honor the veterans, it needs to look nice,” Joyce says. She’s a veteran herself, having served six years in the Air Force as a nurse practitioner.
As Joyce shares the details, Connie Snyder spends time handing out a flyer showcasing the club’s next fundraising effort to add a memorial at Veteran’s Park—this time, a Gold Star Memorial Plaque. The memorial will honor those families who have lost a loved one in service to our country.
While Connie hasn’t lost a loved one, her brother is retired from the military. Her dad served. So did two of her children. Her daughter is a Colonel in the Army. Her son is a disabled veteran, injured while serving in Iraq.
“People remember the lost military members in the moment, but their families go on, and then they're forgotten,” Connie says. “There's a large group of families who have lost loved ones.”
The club is trying to raise $2,700 to purchase the plaque as a permanent reminder.
As the club makes the rounds through the Wicks’ property, Trish Adam can be heard chatting with new member Graydon Snapp. She already knows Graydon is a “tree guy” and wanted to tap into his knowledge.
“My lilac tree came to me in full bloom. This year, no blooms whatsoever,” Trish explains as Graydon talks about using a hose at the base of the lilac to make sure it gets a good drink. After sharing where to place the hose and for how long, Trish is thankful for the insight. “I’m sure I’ll get it to bloom again,” she says with a smile.
“We have learned so much from the membership,” Bob says. “You start talking to them, and you find out these people are brilliant in gardening.” Debbie is quick to add, “Everybody is humble and knows that they don’t know it all. We can learn from each other.”
And just like the plants these members love to talk about, Bob and Debbie hope new members continue to sprout up to keep the club alive for another 55 years.
“I'm hoping that this just carries on forever,” Bob says, “and that it just gets better and better.” He smiles as he says, “The meetings are very educational, lots of fun with lots of laughter.” Pointing to the freshly baked strawberry pies waiting to be served, Bob adds, “Oh, and a lot of good treats.”
TO LEARN MORE about the Thumb-R-Green Garden Club or how to donate to the club’s Gold Star Memorial Plaque, you can email Bob at bobwix@hotmail.com. The group meets at First Baptist Church located at 218 North 34th St. on the fourth Monday of every month at 10:00 a.m.
