Packard
Kay and her husband Randy moved into Huntley Hills neighborhood in 1966.  Kay always enjoyed gardening and feeding the birds. Randy was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease in 1984, and although he was bedridden most of the time, he could look out the windows and enjoy watching the birds! So Kay began researching and gathering all the information she could about attracting birds to her garden and when he was up for it, she also took Randy on “fieldtrips” to visit garden spots in the state. That was the starting point for Kay, and over the years, she became very involved with many gardening and wildlife organizations, including: the Georgia Wildlife Federation, the National Wildlife Federation, Georgia Division of Natural Resources, the Chattahoochee Nature Preserve – to name a few! Kay became well known in the gardening community as a gardening expert, teacher, speaker, and advisor.

Kay went thru the Georgia Master Gardener Program in DeKalb County in 1996, and as p
art of that program, Kay designed, planted and maintained the current butterfly garden in the Huntley Hills Park. It was during this time that she started a neighborhood garden club, and began doing classes or programs for garden clubs, schools, and church groups. Kay’s many jobs included tireless volunteering in Clairmont Park, in area stream cleanups and at Huntley Hills Elementary and Chamblee High School.

Kay started working with the neighborhood and community to become Certified Wildlife Habitats around 2000.   As part of that program, she started the annual habitatKayPackard garden tour – to show everyone they can have beautiful and wildlife friendly gardens. After much hard work, Chamblee (zip code 30341) became a Certified Wildlife Habitat Community in 2003.

The City of Chamblee designated Monday, September 22, 2008 as “Kay Packard Appreciation Day” in Chamblee, Georgia to recognize Kay’s contribution to the City’s Community Wildlife Habitat program.

Kay says she always felt like all her work over the years was her “gift” to the community.   And although she enjoys the beauty of the trees, shrubs and perennials, the gardening was/is all about “wildlife habitat” – providing shelter, food, water, and places to raise their young!!

Kay still gardens when she can, and says her inspiration for gardening came from Sara B. Stein’s book “Noah’s Garden”.

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