The Handle: Keep Amarillo Beautiful
Clip: Season 2 | 5m 47sVideo has Closed Captions
Amarillo's Dusty McGuire is a woman on a mission.
Keep Amarillo Beautiful founder Dusty McGuire looks back on her years devoted to enhancing Amarillo's natural beauty by encouraging the planting of trees and gardens.
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The Handle is a local public television program presented by Panhandle PBS
The Handle: Keep Amarillo Beautiful
Clip: Season 2 | 5m 47sVideo has Closed Captions
Keep Amarillo Beautiful founder Dusty McGuire looks back on her years devoted to enhancing Amarillo's natural beauty by encouraging the planting of trees and gardens.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship<b>- Well, it's just the</b> <b>like the trees here.</b> <b>We don't have any trees,</b> <b>we have mesquites,</b> <b>and then when the pioneers</b> <b>and stuff, they planted</b> <b>their elm trees and people</b> <b>curse those elm trees.</b> <b>That's the backbone</b> <b>of Amarillo trees,</b> <b>the old, it is the Siberian elm,</b> <b>but we had to plant everything</b> <b>that has made Amarillo green.</b> <b>It was just the prairie</b> <b>and thank heavens</b> <b>that there were</b> <b>people who cared.</b> <b>I'm Dusty McGuire and I</b> <b>don't want to be called</b> <b>an environmentalist but</b> <b>I feel very strongly that</b> <b>God gave us this Earth and</b> <b>we need to take care of it.</b> <b>So I did Keep Amarillo</b> <b>Beautiful for about 20 years</b> <b>and I love to garden, I just</b> <b>think it's the greatest thing.</b> <b>I'm happier gardening</b> <b>then anything I do.</b> <b>What you do is you</b> <b>just, you see things,</b> <b>I see things that</b> <b>need to be done.</b> <b>I went to Keep Texas Beautiful</b> <b>meetings a couple of times,</b> <b>and, my God, they were</b> <b>doing just so many things.</b> <b>I said, I feel</b> <b>like somebody from</b> <b>kindergarten with</b> <b>these professors.</b> <b>And I thought, if we</b> <b>don't get something</b> <b>going in Amarillo.
So I did.</b> <b>I organized it.</b> <b>I had a small committee</b> <b>of volunteers.</b> <b>There were about 17 of us,</b> <b>and, you know, we had</b> <b>a great organization.</b> <b>We did a lot of things.</b> <b>And like, the trees.</b> <b>I did a book, "Trees</b> <b>for Amarillo.
"</b> <b>We had a program where</b> <b>nurseries kept a record</b> <b>of every tree that</b> <b>was a gallon or up,</b> <b>we kept a record of it.</b> <b>And so I wanted, by</b> <b>the end of the century,</b> <b>that we had one tree for</b> <b>everybody in Amarillo.</b> <b>And we did.</b> <b>It was amazing how</b> <b>people bought into that.</b> <b>- [Interviewer] When did</b> <b>you start thinking that</b> <b>the gardens needed</b> <b>a Japanese garden?</b> <b>- Probably summer of '17.</b> <b>I think it's so peaceful.</b> <b>You know, in fact, Greg</b> <b>from the Botanical Gardens</b> <b>has told me that people talk</b> <b>loud when they're out there</b> <b>and then they get into</b> <b>that garden and they</b> <b>just get softer.</b> <b>And some of those</b> <b>younger people,</b> <b>not teenagers, but younger ones,</b> <b>will sit out there</b> <b>and just meditate.</b> <b>It's interesting what effect</b> <b>the Oriental garden</b> <b>has on people.</b> <b>But I built it, I paid for it.</b> <b>Billy Cross built it.</b> <b>And I will maintain it;</b> <b>Billy's taken care of</b> <b>the big things and stuff.</b> <b>Of course the Botanical</b> <b>Gardens has to</b> <b>do their maintenance</b> <b>too, you know.</b> <b>But anything that's major,</b> <b>I will take care of.</b> <b>But I think that, you know,</b> <b>I don't have a lot of money,</b> <b>but I see that people</b> <b>leave their money</b> <b>to a foundation or something,</b> <b>and things are not done</b> <b>the way they wanted it.</b> <b>And I thought, I'll just</b> <b>pay for that and do it.</b> <b>I'll call the shots.</b> <b>Dick and I were married</b> <b>almost 40 years when he died,</b> <b>and we built this house.</b> <b>And we never went to the</b> <b>Orient, we just liked,</b> <b>we liked the serenity of it.</b> <b>I grow Bonsai.</b> <b>I think that it's fun to take</b> <b>something and keep it small.</b> <b>It is, it's fun.</b> <b>What you look for is</b> <b>something that nobody wants.</b> <b>They're kind of tacky looking.</b> <b>You have to prune the roots</b> <b>as much as you prune the top.</b> <b>So you have to be in balance.</b> <b>There's a lady who comes to</b> <b>Amarillo in the summertime,</b> <b>and I always look for her.</b> <b>She's on a corner somewhere,</b> <b>and I have to pick</b> <b>up one or two.</b> <b>In Washington DC,</b> <b>at their Arboretum,</b> <b>they have a fabulous collection.</b> <b>I mean, you just</b> <b>think, oh my God.</b> <b>But the trunks are like this,</b> <b>the tree's about like this.</b> <b>But when I'm, when</b> <b>somebody has something,</b> <b>I said, I want them.</b> <b>In fact, some of the</b> <b>lanterns that I have here,</b> <b>Dick and I went up to Michigan,</b> <b>picked up a GMC motor home,</b> <b>came back through, think it</b> <b>was Tennessee or something,</b> <b>and there were all these</b> <b>Oriental pieces out there.</b> <b>I said, oh my God, Dick!</b> <b>So he stopped; Dick</b> <b>would always stop for me.</b> <b>And so, we had the</b> <b>motor home just filled</b> <b>with lanterns and things like</b> <b>this that I'm still using.</b> <b>And they have lots</b> <b>of coats of paint.</b> <b>I was 89 in April.</b> <b>- [Interviewer] And you still do</b> <b>a lot of this yourself, then?</b> <b>- Oh, definitely.</b> <b>You know, there's</b> <b>such satisfaction.</b> <b>Like, I was shocked</b> <b>when you called me.</b> <b>And I thought, it spurred me.</b> <b>I still had some</b> <b>things to do out there,</b> <b>and I thought, oh my God,</b> <b>so I really got busy</b> <b>painting some of the</b> <b>things that needed to be done.</b> <b>And there's a lot more</b> <b>that needs to be done.</b> <b>It's not finished.</b> <b>(upbeat music)</b>
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