Meet Sally Hartman – Class of 2020

Sally earned a degree in journalism from the University of Arkansas. She then studied Japanese culture at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan. Later she earned public relations accreditation and certficates in nonprofit management and crisis communications. She is currently a freelance professional specializing in writing, editing and communications strategy. 

Sally retired in June as Vice President for Communications at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation which is our region’s largest grant and scholarship provider.

Sally admires beautiful gardens but didn’t embrace the art of gardening due to lack of training. She joined the Norfolk Master Gardener program so that she could learn about gardening. It worked! She now knows a lot more about horticulture and enjoys participating in gardening.

When the coronavirus caused classes to go virtual Sally missed her classmates, the perennial Master Gardeners and all the fantastic dinners that volunteers prepared for the students in their after-work classes. However, she feels that going online allowed the class to continue learning and forced them to successfully adapt their presentations to an online format. Although Sally feels it worked for her, she missed having an in-person pruning class. Hopefully she will have an opportunity to participate in one when we are able to meet in person again.

Sally earned most of her hours volunteering at the Butterfly House at Norfolk Botanical Garden. She also helped the Communications Committee create a communication plan for the 2021 online gardening classes. Other projects included the Eco Garden at Ernie Morgan Center, Flower & Garden Expo at the Virginia Beach Convention Center, Weyanoke Wildlife Sanctuary and crape myrtle pruning.

She will continue volunteering at the Butterfly House and she is in training to become a docent at the Hermitage Museum and Gardens. When things open up again she would like to work with projects for children.

Sally’s family circle includes her husband, Ron, and their son, Luke, who lives and works in Salt Lake City. Completing the family unit is her rescue dog, Lucy, who is a Lab mix.



When Sally has free time she likes yoga, pickleball, swimming, golfing, biking, reading, writing or quilting. She also enjoys walking her dog, and if we weren’t in a pandemic she would be finding somewhere interesting to travel.

Be sure to introduce yourself to Sally when you see her and welcome her to the Norfolk Master Gardener volunteers.