South the track lots are home to 2 master gardeners

What started as an interview about the fair turned into finding a hidden treasure. Floyd and Karen Rothfuss went to Superior High School and believe in giving back to their home town..

Karen entered different kinds of flowers into the Jewell and Nuckolls County fairs, 27 vases in Jewell and 35 in Nuckolls County. Karen also won best of show at the Jewell County Fair. When asked how she was able to help her flowers survive the summer weather she gave this advice, "Water and mulch, no rocks. Rocks are for landscaping, but not for growing flowers." The dryness and water watch haven't been of much trouble to the Rothfusses because they are able to use their own underground well water system. Even in the winter they deep water their trees and bushes.

Since both are retired, they keep themselves busy with gardening. Karren has been part of the Master Gardener program for 15 years, Floyd has only been a member for six. To be a master gardener it takes a commitment to be a community resource for gardening knowledge as well as a desire to teach and mentor other gardeners. To be a member you also must have ten hours of volunteer work and education per year. They found this program while living in Omaha, their previous residency before moving to Superior.

They are also part of a garden club in Mankato since Superior does not have one. One of my favorite stories they told me, was how during parades, people on the garden club float wouldn't throw out candy, but instead they threw Beanie Babies! At the most recent parade, 30 of the stuffed toys were thrown out.

As part of their volunteer hours, they've been taking care of the Superior city park flowers for more than 20 years. When they decided to clean up the park in 2002, Karen was a member of the park board. They started by tearing out all the "bad" flowers, keeping the peonies, trees, and bushes. The railroad ties that were used were rotting away so they tore those out as well. They replaced the ties with a stone wall. They started the wall on a Friday at 4 p.m. and the following day they finished by noon. They were able to do all of that thanks to donations and other volunteers helping.

Now Floyd and Karen are the only volunteers left. Tim Crowel donates the mulch for the flower beds. When it comes to taking care of pesky weeds and grass, they pull it all by hand. In the fall they will go through and spray the bindweed.

They bought the lot they live on in south Superior in 2000. The house and shed on the property needed to be condemned so they tore everything out except a few trees and started construction on the shed that can be seen standing there now. The property beside them was also being torn down so they bought it and started adding on the house in 2011. They value their space and privacy so now they own five lots surrounding them.

Their personal garden is quite impressive as well. In their yard there are 35 different types of lilies and roughly 120 peony plants of all different varieties. Floyd believes there are 75 different plants in their yard. The also have statues, bird houses and lots more decorations hiding throughout the yard. Floyd figured they spend around $400 each year on flowers. They prefer to plant annuals. That way they don't have to spend more than that. They do not use pesticides. Since they live on the outskirts of town, they see all kinds of wildlife in their yard. Deer and moles have been the most destructive, but they've also seen raccoons, snakes, foxes, a woodchuck and even a bobcat.

Competition runs in Karen's blood. She was a 4-H member until she turned 18. Along with her impressive amount of flowers, she also took a few quilts, some knitting and a upcycled vest to the fair.

A hobby they both used to enjoy is off roading. Floyd enjoys woodworking, Floyd built beautiful cupboards in their kitchen and the new counter at the Crest Theatre. This fall they hope to have a new addition to their garden.