Kearney woman honored for garden

If you want to be happy for 10 years buy a dog.

If you want to be happy for a lifetime, plant a garden.

Michelle Fischer tries hard to be happy.

She loves staying busy so she works two jobs, one at UPS and the second at West Pharmaceutical.

And then there’s the gardening.

Michelle said she must be active, and she must get a feeling of achievement, so after logging time at her two jobs, she shifts into gardening mode. It’s a natural activity that helps her unwind and feel like she’s accomplishing something that makes the most of her.

Michelle is the Sertoma Yard of the Month Award recipient for October and the final award winner for 2024.

Step into Michelle’s yard in southeast Kearney, and you get a sense of how gardening has cast its spell. Relax, walk around, and take it all in. There are dozens and dozens of plants, flowers and trees.

“I like to be outdoors,” Michelle said.

Tending to so many beautiful growing things is a lot of work, but it’s not enough just to tend to all of the various colorful plants. Michelle is a big fan of the annual Junk Jaunt where she can find antiques and various oddities that combine well with her plants.

“If you work hard you deserve to have a little fun,” Michelle said, scanning all of the gardens and plants that grow in her back yard.

Michelle rattles off the many plant species and varieties in her eclectic surroundings. There are petunias, hibiscus, prairie grass and sweet potato vines. And that list is barely scratching the surface.

Michelle isn’t satisfied to plant only roses or only flowering annuals. She enjoys blending the great variety of plants available to her into a fanciful collection of textures, shapes and colors. She’s so skillful at weaving her many plants together that the effect is subtle and appealing.

Even the wild animals that happen by her place appear to enjoy the variety.

“Creatures come through. Opossums, snakes, hummingbirds, wasps and bees, they’re naturally attracted to this space,” she said.