After nearly 30 years of weekly columns, Gerald Klingaman is putting away the pen
April 9, 2026
By Ryan McGeeney
University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Fast Facts
- Gerald Klingaman penned ‘Plant of the Week,’ ‘Musings on Nature’ columns
- Klingaman served as extension horticulture specialist, professor for 32 years
- Was a founding member of Botanical Garden of the Ozarks
(876 words)
Download photo of Klingaman
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — On the approach of his 80th birthday, noted horticulturist and writer Gerald Klingaman has decided to end his "Musings on Nature" column. The column, begun in 2021, followed his long-running "Plant of the Week" column, which ran from 1997-2021.
Klingaman was one of eight children, growing up on a farm in rural Oklahoma. After graduating as high school valedictorian — one of eight graduating seniors — and completing his bachelor’s degree in horticulture at Oklahoma State University in 1969, he earned a master’s degree in vegetable crops and a Ph.D. in ornamental horticulture at the University of Maryland.
In 1974, he joined the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, both as a professor and an extension horticulture specialist.
“I don’t know how rare it is, but I’m a one-university guy,” Klingaman said. Over three decades, he taught hundreds of courses and shepherded dozens of graduate students through their greenhouse studies.
In 1997, Klingaman began writing his “Plant of the Week” column for extension. While the Internet was still in its infancy, Klingaman’s columns were mailed out as part of a news digest distributed each week by the Cooperative Extension Service’s communications department.
Mary Hightower, who joined extension as a part-time communications specialist in 1997 and retired as the Division of Agriculture’s chief communications officer in January 2026, said Klingaman’s weekly column quickly gained popularity with readers.
“As extension horticulture specialist, he was already a deep well of plant knowledge,” Hightower said. “Coupled with his talent for storytelling, the columns he provided for our news pack became a hit with our media members and their audiences. When Gerald took those occasional vacations, we heard about it from editors and readers.”
The column began, Hightower said, with no specific expectations of longevity.
“At the time we had no idea how long this column would continue,” she said. “I’m not sure either of us thought it would be two-and-a-half decades.”
In 2005, Klingaman retired from the Cooperative Extension Service and began volunteering for the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, which Klingaman described as being “not much more than an open field” at the time. In 2010, he was hired as the garden’s full-time operations manager; he retained that position until 2018.
Also in 2005, while still producing weekly “Plant of the Week” columns for extension, Klingaman began writing for multiple external outlets, including a newspaper, a magazine and several internet platforms.
“And then 2008 happened,” he said, referencing the financial crisis that drove many of those platforms out of business. “A lot of my writing revenue sources dried up. The internet thing went away, the newspaper was bought out, and I found myself doing just two columns — one for extension and one for a magazine.”
Klingaman continued producing his weekly column for extension until 2021. In 2020, Klingaman’s wife of 37 years, Jolene, died after a long illness.
Klingaman said that between the loss of his wife and the accumulated work of more than 1,200 columns, he decided it was time to pursue a new direction.
“After doing 50 columns a year for 26 years, I was searching for new angles and new things to write about without getting really into the weeds of varieties and cultivars,” he said. “And I’ve always loved traveling, even during Jolene’s illnesses. With her passing, that sort of opened the door to more traveling. I got my first little van in March of 2021, and I hit the road for three months. I’ve always enjoyed the West.”
In June 2021, Klingaman published his first “Musings on Nature” column, with the goal of exploring the intersection of nature and society.
“I wanted to talk about the breadth of nature, rather than just plants,” he said. “I didn’t want it to be a straight travel column, although I’ll admit way too much of that did creep in.”
Klingaman, who transmitted his dispatches from Florida to Alaska for nearly five years, said he always tried to find a connection to Arkansas in his writing, wherever he was.
“I was in the Everglades this spring, and looking at a pretty massive construction project,” he said. “It’s a 30-year project, but Bill Clinton was the one who signed it into law. So there’s an Arkansas connection, even if it is convoluted, as many of them are.”
In March, Klingaman decided to end the column after a nearly five-year run. He said he plans to keep traveling as much as he can, however, and focus on the completion of a science fiction novel that’s been in the works for about a decade.
Although Klingaman will no longer produce new columns for extension, his body of work — both Plant of the Week and Musings on Nature columns — will remain accessible to the public on the Division of Agriculture website.
“Gerald’s creativity and body of work have outlasted two retirements — the first being his retirement from the Cooperative Extension Service, and the second being his retirement as director of operations at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks,” Hightower said. “I’m amazed by Gerald’s sheer endurance over the decades, and I have no doubt that his columns will continue to be a reader-friendly encyclopedia of plants and natural phenomena for generations of gardeners and those curious about our world.”
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. To learn more about ag and food research in Arkansas, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station at aaes.uada.edu.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
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Media Contact:
Ryan McGeeney
rmcgeeney@uada.edu
501-671-2120