Former Daily Herald garden writer earns honor

Mary B. Good, who wrote a garden column for the Daily Herald called “The Potting Shed” for more than 20 years, was honored in August as a Fellow by Garden Communicators International, an association for professional communicators in the garden industry.

The Fellow award, given to members showing exceptional skill and dedication, tops a 53-year writing career that Good began after sending submissions to the Daily Herald for the Arlington Heights Garden Club and eventually being hired as a feature and garden writer. After moving to Wisconsin, Good continued writing her gardening column for two more decades. She has written for newspapers and magazines across the country, as well as five books, including her latest, “Skewed Flash Fiction: A Collection of 50 Freaky-Fast Reads.”

During her time in Arlington Heights, Mary started one of the first community organic gardens in the country. Mary's service to the garden organization includes six years on the board of directors and four years as an officer.

When Mary learned she had been awarded this coveted honor, she said: “I haven't been this excited since I was stalked by an anaconda in the Amazon.” The Amazon experience took place on an expedition to the Peruvian rainforest led by the late, world-renowned tropical bird artist, Chicagoan Richard Sloan, in a search for the bizarre, claw-winged hoatzin bird.