My name is Fran Pike, a Master Gardener with the University of Missouri Extension in St. Charles County.  I enjoy going to plant sales, greenhouses, and nurseries to find unusual plants.  Enjoying the beauty of flowers, both in the home and in the garden is a wonderful experience. 

As part of Master Gardener volunteer activities, I give classes on gardening, write articles for this website on home gardening in Missouri, and answer gardening questions.  I was president of my neighborhood garden club for 10 years, and a past president of the Gardeners of St. Charles County.  A focus of my efforts is to share with others the love of gardening and the joy and discoveries of growing, using, and understanding plants.

At home, I maintain a flower garden, pond, and vegetable garden that keep me busy, along with other family activities.  Cooking and preserving vegetables and herbs that come from our garden each year is very rewarding.  I enjoy growing dye plants for my handspun yarns.  Five years ago, I started a business called "Rover's Comb," offering handspun yarns made from angora and chiengora (dog hair).

Gardening at our place has been a real family affair.  My husband, Curt, has been very instrumental in preparing the garden sites and is the strength behind the shovel for the heavy projects.  When I asked our boys what they liked best about the garden, they said they liked the pond the best, because they like feeding the fish and finding frogs and tadpoles.  In the garden, Tom liked growing the "baby corn" that we use in stir fries.   Jeff  liked the stachys (Helen Von Stein), which he calls "Ellie's ears" instead of lamb's ears, after our pet angora rabbit "Ellie."  Although they are now teenagers, they still enjoy picking blackberries, and watching the moonflowers open on summer evenings.  It is my hope that they will remember these things and be inspired to create a garden of their own some day.