Seed for Debbie Fitzgerald’s career was planted early. “Oh, I’ve been growing things since I was knee-high to a bullfrog,” says Fitzgerald, who was raised on a tobacco farm in the tiny town of Bailey, North Carolina. “Tobacco was our cash crop, but we also grew corn, cotton, soybeans, plus a huge family garden.”
The chores were hard, but the childhood was happy, she says, “and here I am now, still growing things.”
“Here” is Raleigh Country Club, where Fitzgerald has worked as a horticulturist for the past 25 years. The line from cash crops on the farm to colorful creations on the golf course wasn’t straight, but it ultimately planted her in a place she adores.
“I took a lot of different paths,” the 69-year-old says. “My greatest interest is art. I love color — I love working with
color and texture and shapes — and that is what drew me into the plant world, which is different than farm life,
but the same principles apply.”
One twist in the road included a couple of gigs as a backup singer in a rock ’n’ roll band. “We weren’t famous,” says Fitzgerald with a laugh. “But oh my, we had a lot of fun!”
Today, she still sings while working a job she describes as a true passion. Fitzgerald designs, installs and maintains the decorative beds on the golf courses and around the clubhouses at several McConnell Golf properties. Her home base is Raleigh Country Club, and she spends a couple of days per week at The Country Club at Wakefield Plantation. She does seasonal design work at Brook Valley Country Club and Treyburn Country Club as well as the family residence of John McConnell, President/CEO of McConnell Golf.
“We have our hands full all the time. We are a busy crowd,” she says, crediting the beautiful results to a crew she calls “family” and expressing delight at the opportunity to be endlessly creative. “With plants, there are so many possibilities and I’m always excited about trying new things, mixing it up, keeping it fresh.”
Fitzgerald pours her artist’s heart into horticultural design. “I find it so gratifying to work with really pretty plant material. My job is providing visual diversity and designing a beautiful environment for members to enjoy.” Off the job, Fitzgerald spends a lot of her free time … growing things. “My garden is beautiful — I cannot have enough plants at my house,” she says. “I make sure to surround myself with beauty.”
When she isn’t playing in the dirt, her other hobbies include painting and drawing. Despite a quarter-century working on golf courses, she doesn’t play. “I can hit the ball hard — but I can’t aim it,” the left-handed horticulturist confesses.
Fitzgerald and her husband Patrick have one son and a soon-to-be daughter-in-law, Jack and Maegan, as well as an 8-year-old collie-lab mix named Murphy. Reflecting on her silver anniversary with McConnell Golf, Fitzgerald says she does plan to retire — eventually — but for now, “I still wake up excited to go to work … and working outside, in the fresh air and sunshine, keeps me young.”
When the day does come, though, her vision of the ideal retirement includes volunteering with Habitat for Humanity to build decks and porches and, of course, install beautiful landscaping. “It’s so important that people have a lovely, peaceful place to live,” she says.
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