The life and passions of Margaret Sirl were celebrated at Friday night’s Bega Show opening as the gardening guru was presented with a very special achievement award.
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The Bega AP&H Society organised for a special presentation on the lifetime achievements of Ms Sirl, with emcee Ian Campbell sharing her story before Andrew Constance and Mike Kelly presented her with gifts.
While ill health has seen Ms Sirl retreat from active public life in recent months, she was a strong but ever-humble presence on stage as she spoke about her love of the community.
Just a small sample of Ms Sirl’s achievements include being a member of the Bega Garden Club since the 1960s, forming the Beautiful Bega Committee in the late 1980s alongside the late Anna Glover and others.
She is also well known across the South East as the gardening guru of ABC radio, a talkback segment she started in 1987.
Gardening in Marg’s blood
The full citation from the Bega AP&H Society on Margaret Sirl’s award.
MARGARET SIRL has been “the gardening guru of local ABC” for the past 29 years, but her story is much bigger than that.
Margaret has been interested in gardening since she was a toddler and learnt floral art from her aunt, a florist at the age of eight years old.
She moved to the Bega Valley from Sydney when she was five years old when her parents took over management of the old Bemboka Hotel.
A few years later the family moved into Bega, this is where Margaret has lived ever since.
In 1960 Margaret met and married another passionate gardener, Arthur Sirl. Arthur had left school to commence a market gardening apprenticeship with the Reeves family of Tarraganda. Throughout his life he always had a substantial vegetable garden, whilst Margaret’s passion was shrubs and flowers. Over the years both Margaret and Arthur would enter their gardens in the Bega Garden Clubs garden competitions.
Arthur was co-owner of Bega Tyre Service when the couple were approached by Norm Ubrihien to purchase the East End Garden Centre, on the block where Coles now stands today on the corner of Carp and Parker Streets.
They took up the challenge with gusto, establishing their reputations as a couple who really knew their “gardening stuff”. Margaret was always on hand for her invaluable advice she has become so famous for and Arthur for some muscle, a cup of coffee and a good yarn.
In the early 1980s, they relocated the nursery to North Bega changing the name to
Sirls' Garden Centre, where they traded for the next 14 years.
“People were very surprised that we would move so far out of town Margaret said”. “Where else would we find enough land to restart a nursery”.
Margaret had great vision for the nursery at North Bega, it was here she learnt her marketing skills. Inviting garden clubs from up and down the South Coast and the Monaro, organising bus trips to the nursery where sumptuous morning or afternoon teas were served, she had baked the night before. Directions were also given to other great gardens in the district to round out the day.
Fashion parades among the plants, craft shows, fruit tree and rose pruning demonstration days were other innovations to draw customers into the centre and always happy to share her knowledge. Garden talks or floral art demonstrations were always well received, especially if held for a local charity event or fundraiser.
In 1987 Margaret began presenting weekly gardening tips on local ABC radio on Tuesday mornings, choosing a theme for each program, such as Easter plants or fairies in the garden.
A few months later she opened the program to callers and struck an instant rapport with many of her callers becoming regular listeners over the years.
"I wasn't really nervous as I had been conversing and answering people's inquiries for many years at the nursery," Margaret said.
The program was moved to Wednesdays and the following year, she was asked to do another spot on Saturday mornings.
Now Margaret Sirl's Gardening Talkback, followed by The Woodies are required listening in many homes throughout the south east on Saturday mornings.
When the nursery was at its peak, Margaret was approached by TAFE to teach gardening and flower arranging to unemployed young people.
TAFE was housed in Littleton House then and Margaret's classroom was the front garden.
She taught gardening and horticulture at TAFE for 10 years, writing her own curriculum whilst studying for an Associate Diploma of Horticulture through the Riverina College of Advanced Education in Wagga.
Margaret is an avid and extensive reader and studies horticulture up to one and a half hours a day, mainly from English publications.
Her dedication to horticulture has resulted in her being asked to lead a tour of gardening enthusiasts to England and has had publications of her gardening tips in four editions of the Yates Garden guide. Margaret has enjoyed exhibiting at local AP&H shows since 1966 in the cut flower section and floral art until recent years.
A dedicated floral artist, she travelled to Sydney with a friend for a floral art exposition in the 1980s.
"We could do that in Bega," she thought and so was born the Bicentennial Floral Art Display in the Bega Town Hall.
Floral artists from Bega and Cobargo got together to create historical floral displays based on Dorothea McKellar's poem, 'My Country'.
The flowers were kept fresh for four days and the display was enjoyed by more than 3,000 people, many of them travelling in busloads from as far away as Batemans Bay and Nowra.
There have been three other floral art displays since then. Our beautiful historic churches have been the venues for other floral themes.
After the success of the project, the Bega Floral Art Group was formed and Margaret served as its president for the next 17 years, passing on the reins a few of years ago.
Joining the Bega Garden Club in the 1960s, taking on the top job in 1999 when the club was in decline with only 28 members. She introduced meetings in members' gardens on Saturday afternoons with guest speakers which proved most popular and increased membership to 65 members.
She also initiated a change to the constitution that prevents a member from holding an executive position for more than two consecutive years. In 1990 Margaret was bestowed with a great honour and installed as a life member. The Batemans Bay Horticultural Society is another loved club with many enthusiastic garden members, as their patron Margaret enjoys travelling to Batemans Bay to visit and talk with them annually.
The Beautiful Bega Committee which existed in the late 1980s and early 1990s established to beautify Bega’s town centre was another of Margaret's projects together with the late Anna Glover and other dedicated members.
In 1995, Arthur became gravely ill and unable to work alongside Margaret, she was unable to run the nursery on her own as well as care for him. So sadly Margaret decided to close the nursery.
When Arthur died Margaret began working at Kangarutha Nursery, providing gardening tips and advice to people who come from far and wide for her help. Carrying on her teaching from home and garden design work for customers.
In addition to all her gardening activities, Margaret was a member of the Bega Chamber of Commerce and Industry for 13 years and served on the Bega Valley Shire Council's Bega Area Committee for 16 years. In 1978 the Bega evening View Club was formed of which over the years Margaret has enjoyed the friendship and company of the ladies and a lovely dinner together once a month.
Other highlights for Margaret have been the privilege of officially opening the local AP&H shows in Bega, Candelo, Cooma and Dalgety. Along with Margaret being awarded The Bega Community Citizen of The Year in 2007.
For over forty years she has given freely of her time for the community and town of Bega holding presentation talks on gardening and horticulture and floral art demonstrations. Working tirelessly for the clubs and committees she has been a member of or involved in and her love of nature and the environment. And of course the dulcet tones of her wisdom on ABC radio for almost thirty years.
Due to ill health Margaret has pulled back from active involvement in several organisations in recent years.
However, that doesn't mean she has lost the instinct to get things done when she sees a need.