Volunteer Spotlight: Featuring Joy Bogstad

By:  Iris Clearwater, Senior Gardener

Aptly named for the Joy she brings to everything that she does, and to all who have the pleasure to know her, Joy Bogstad has been volunteering here at Heritage for 15 years, ever since she and 7 other women started the Hydrangea Display Garden here at Heritage in 2008.

Born in Springfield, MA she moved across the country with her parents to San Diego at 7 years old but came often to Cape Cod to spend special time with her family here.  After working for 25 years as bakery district marketing manager at Safeway, she and her husband moved back to Massachusetts in 2005.  Newly arrived, an inquiry into a part time position quickly led to her working full time as the bakery marketing manager for Panera Bread on Cape Cod for 10 years before she retired.  

She’d always liked hydrangeas, and like many people, she’d inherited two at her new house and had no idea how to care for them.  So upon seeing a sign posted in Plymouth that said, Do You Like Hydrangeas?, she went to that meeting at the Plymouth firehouse.  It was led by Joan Harrison from Dennis, who wanted to see if there were people interested in founding the Cape Cod Hydrangea Society with her, and finding a location to plant a garden devoted to hydrangeas.  The group took shape in 2007, and the idea began to spread by word of mouth, reaching the ears of then Director of Horticulture at Heritage, Jeanie Gillis who invited them to start their hydrangea garden here, and even to choose their ideal location for it, and the garden took root in 2008.  Joan Brazeau helped to design the initial garden, plants were ordered and donated by Hydrangea Plus in Oregon, and many contributed to the garden by purchasing plants as a memorial to a loved one.  

Now, Joy has 140 hydrangeas in her yard in Hyannis, and works with Strictly Hydrangeas, led by fellow volunteer and hydrangea expert Linda Coven, specializing in expert care of hydrangeas in 68 private gardens.  Linda was her mentor when Joy completed her Cape Cod Master Gardener training in 2020.  She says what she loves about hydrangeas is how unique each one is, not only in the vast spectrum of cultivars in the 5 families of hydrangeas, but how even individual plants of the same cultivar can look entirely different from one another based on the conditions of where they are growing – water, sunlight, and especially soil pH.

Having volunteered here for 15 years, I asked Joy what keeps her volunteering here.  She replied, “I love coming to Heritage, it is my happy place.  It’s so beautiful, and every time I come it’s a learning moment – I learn a new shrub, tree, flower, weed, or something new.  At the end of the day, I look at what we accomplished, and think, I contributed to this today, and it’s going to be beautiful!”

Whenever you come to Heritage, know that every experience here has been contributed to and cared for by countless hands, especially those of our generous, kind, and wonderful volunteers. We are so grateful to you!!!

If you would like to find out more, please visit our Volunteer Page, fill out our Volunteer Application, and send any questions to volunteer@heritagemuseums.org.