Vera's Victorian Garden

VERA'S VICTORIAN GARDEN

ABOUT VERA KEY

Vera Estelle Key (1893-1987) was a native of Rogers. After graduating from the Rogers Academy in 1908, she earned a nursing degree from Hendrix College in 1911. She volunteered to serve her country during World War I and was sent to France in 1918. After the war, she continued to serve state-side until returning to Rogers in 1920.

In 1928, she became the personal nurse for local humorist and writer Tom Morgan. An avid gardener, she helped to found the Garden Club of Rogers in 1929 with the goal of “making Rogers the most beautiful city in Arkansas.” In 1954, she was a charter member of the Benton County Historical Society. She also served as co-chair on the board for the Pea Ridge Memorial Association, which was established to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Pea Ridge in 1962.

In 1974, she became the first commission chairman for the newly founded Rogers Historical Museum, a post she held until 1981 when her health began to fail. She also prepared displays for the Museum, greeted visitors and volunteers, and collected artifacts for the collection. She donated many items from her home to the Museum’s collections.

When she passed away in 1987, she gifted a share of her estate to the Museum which provided the funding for the addition of a new museum wing named in her honor, today known as the Key Wing Education Center. The Museum’s 1895 Hawkins House garden, Vera’s Victorian Garden, is also named in her memory. In death as in life, Miss Vera Key furthered the preservation of the heritage she so treasured.

Vera Key in her home garden in Rogers, c. 1960.

THE GARDEN'S STORY

1988: Discussions began for the creation the Vera Key Memorial Garden in the south lawn of the historic Hawkins House and newly completed Key Wing.

1989: The Vera Key Memorial Garden completed by the Garden Club of Rogers with design assistance by Dr. Alfred Einert, professor of Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Arkansas.

2022: The Museum and City of Rogers Parks Department partnered with the Benton County Master Gardeners to transform the garden into a Victorian flower garden as an educational extension of the historic 1895 Hawkins House.

2023: Benton County Master Gardeners updated the Vera Key Memorial Garden to include only Victorian era plants and the garden was renamed Vera’s Victorian Garden.

2025: Vera's Victorian Garden earned the 2024 Arkansas Master Gardener Project of the Year Award.

Vera Key Memorial Garden, 1990.

Benton County Master Gardeners planting the Victorian garden, May 2023.

Vera's Victorian Garden, September 2023.

THE GARDEN'S MOSAIC MURAL

March 2023: Museum partnered with mosaic mural artist, Stevie Stevens/Modern Mosaics, to design a mural for the garden.

December 2023: Stevie Stevens began hand-cutting and applying thousands of glass pieces to create Vera’s Victorian Garden mosaic mural.

March 2024: Vera’s Victorian Garden mosaic mural installed.

April 2024: Vera's Victorian Garden mural official dedication ceremony honoring the memory of Vera Key.

Vera's Victorian Garden mural dedication plaque.

Mural Design Elements

Inspired by Art Nouveau period (1890-1910)
Photo of Vera Key
Apples and apple blossoms = regional apple heritage
Petunias = official flower of Rogers since 1931
Roses = one of Vera’s favorite flowers
Other flowers found in Ozark Victorian era gardens