Tina Marie Wilcox

Tina Marie Wilcox, Head Gardener and Herbalist Emerita, served the Ozark Folk Center’s Heritage Herb Garden in Mountain View, Arkansas from 1984 through 2025. She, with a host of mentors and gardeners, operated the greenhouse, propagated plants, planted seeds, and controlled pests. She worked with the earth, selectively weeded, made compost, pruned, and designed gardens. Wilcox works with garden and herbal volunteers, teaches, and continues to learn.

Tina’s philosophy is based upon experiencing the joy of the process, perpetrating no harm, and understanding life through play with plants and people.

Wilcox is a member of the Herb Society of America and was awarded the 2017 Nancy Putam Howard Award for Excellence in Horticulture. She holds memberships in the Arkansas Native Plant Society, Arkansas Master Naturalists, United Plant Savers, and the American Botanical Council. She serves on the board of the International Herb Association and the Herb Society of America, Ozark Unit.

The Creative Herbal Home, coauthored with Susan Belsinger, was published in June 2007. Wilcox has written articles for The Herb Companion, Herbs for Health, and Grit published by Ogden Press, Topeka, KS. She and co-author Susan Belsinger collaborated on two chapters in Designing an Herb Garden, a Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guide, 2004, Brooklyn Botanic Garden Inc., Brooklyn, NY. Since 2006, she has been a contributor to the International Herb Association’s Herb of the Year™ publication.