John Marcus Craft must have inadvertently picked a four-leaf clover or two when he was weeding commercial lots for his landscaping business last fall. That's when his luck began to change, and a process was begun that would land him a job as a gardener with the National Park Service (NPS). But Craft didn't land just any gardener position. The Albany Technical College environmental horticulture student works for the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site and is the primary gardener for President and Mrs. Carter's home in Plains, Ga. Their property is part of a "life estate agreement" whereby it is now owned by NPS, although the Carters may reside there for the rest of their lives. Craft cares for the 12-acre "yard" surrounding the 1961 ranch-style house.

The Early County native actually began crafting his own good fortune about two years ago — on July 31, to be exact. He was 44 years old and a heavy equipment operator for a construction company in Albany, Ga.

"On my birthday I said, 'I want to do something else for the rest of my life,'" as Craft tells it. "I went to Albany Tech to enroll in the air conditioning program and took the assessment test. It came back that horticulture and air conditioning were so close [in interest and aptitude] that I changed to horticulture. I didn't even know there was a horticulture program [at Albany Tech] until then." He began in the program the following September.

Gardeners who previously worked at the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site did a good job, according to site superintendent Fred Boyles, but they didn't understand the intricacies of disease control, fertilization, and related problems.

"If Mrs. Carter said, 'There's a worm eating this bush — do you know what kind it is?' we'd all shrug 'No,' pluck the worm up and take it down to the extension office to find out," explains Boyles. Then he learned that Albany Tech — just 45 minutes away — taught horticulture. He arranged for a visit to the school and met with the environmental horticulture instructor. "Vicki Tucker was teaching exactly what we needed," he says. The year-long program emphasizes the basics of pest control, landscaping, greenhouse management, and plant identification. Tucker gave Boyles the resumes of her top students, and the school and NPS worked out a student career experience program. Craft was interviewed, hired, and began work on Jan. 31.

While there are no statistics available for median gardener wages in the state, Tucker says her students generally start around $8 per hour in Southwest Georgia. According to the Georgia Department of Labor, Georgia will see a 36 percent increase in annual job openings in gardening in the decade that began in 1996, with an estimated 25,400 gardeners working in the state by 2006. The Albany Tech program maintains 15 to 20 students per quarter, and Tucker says that generally 100 percent of her students are placed into positions in the field upon graduation. Craft says he stays in contact with all of his classmates, some of whom have started their own landscaping businesses.

In addition to the basics of horticulture and management, Tucker's curriculum prepares students to pass the test required by the Georgia Department of Agriculture to become licensed in the use of restricted chemicals on ornamentals and turf. The test for licensure is a difficult one, but Tucker's students are well prepared. "Tucker is known all over the state; she carries a very good reputation," says Craft. When Craft went to Tifton to take the licensure test, the examiner administering it said, "If you passed Ms. Tucker's course, you won't have any trouble passing mine."

Having his spraying license is important for Craft's work at the NPS, as well as in his own business, which he continues to operate on weekends. Craft points out a wild plum tree on the Carters' lawn that he has noticed harbors a pest called twig borers. "I'll spray this afternoon, depending on the wind," he says.

In his job with the NPS, Craft will work in close contact with the former president and his family. Boyles says, "Marcus will have more day-to-day contact with the Carters than anyone else on staff. Mrs. Carter likes to do spring planting — she and President Carter will have requests and ask questions."

After viewing some tapes the Carters made regarding maintenance of the grounds, Craft was astonished at the personal involvement the Carters have in their property.

"In the tape, Mr. and Mrs. Carter talked about how a certain bush was a gift from so-and-so and about their pond — how before Billy [the former president's brother] died it was a special interest of his — and the flagpole, how all the kids have their names in the concrete. It's amazing how much they did themselves," Craft says.

"They planted crape myrtles and built a wood fence. You look at that fence differently from just any wood fence now. It makes you feel good they entrust it to you."

"I wish I'd taken this [horticulture] course before I went into farming," says Craft.

"Ninety-five percent of diseases have manmade causes — improper fertilization, timing or misanalysis of fertilization needs, or over-watering. Most weeds are there because the lawn isn't healthy."

The Jimmy Carter National Historic Site includes the Carters' residence and the former president's boyhood home and high school. The boyhood home and farm will open in fall 2000, and the renovated high school is currently used as a visitor center. The train depot that served as President Carter's campaign headquarters has been refurbished as a museum.