Botanical garden founder encouraged love of plants
Lorna Jean “Jeni” Pennington, long familiar to patrons of the Agua Fría Nursery, which she operated for more than 40 years, died of cancer Aug. 10 at her home in Santa Fe. She was 71. “She cultivated a whole lot of people’s learning about how to grow stuff in Santa Fe,” said her husband of 52 years, Bob Pennington. “She loved talking to people about growing plants and she was a very wise, very kind and very gentle gardener. This business was a love of hers.”
Jeni Pennington was born to Howard and Barbara Mitthai of Oakland, Calif., on March 9, 1947. The family moved to Colorado, where Jeni Pennington met her future husband at a party.
“You know that Beatles song, ‘I Saw Her Standing There?’ ” Bob Pennington said. “Well, that was the story of our life. I met her at her house and saw her standing there, and from that day on we were together.”
The couple married in December 1965. They had three sons.
Though she began studying history and education at Utah State University, Jeni Pennington left college to join her husband in a new venture: running a greenery in Santa Fe. They bought the vacant G&G Gardens nursery in Agua Fría village. “We learned by the seat of our pants — or plants,” Bob Pennington said.
“We had to learn how to collect, how to grow and how to sell.”
Jeni Pennington became a specialist in vegetables and annuals, he said. She liked animals — particularly cats — and enjoyed talking about gardening with visitors at the nursery.
Jeni and Bob Pennington were among the original group of botanists and environmentalists who founded the Santa Fe Botanical Garden in the late 1980s. The organization, which aimed to create a garden to serve as a living celebration of the area’s botanical heritage, first acquired the 35-acre Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve south of Santa Fe and then the 1,350-acre Ortiz Mountains Educational Preserve, which now is owned by Santa Fe County. In 2006, the organization obtained a long-term lease for the first 11 acres of what would become a 18.5-acre botanical garden on Museum Hill.
Jeni Pennington is survived by her sister, Marcy; her sons Sean, Mark and Shane; two daughters-in-law; and three grandchildren.
Bob Pennington said the family will likely hold a celebration of her life sometime in the spring. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for any contributions to be made to the Santa Fe Botanical Garden.