Mary Florence Irish, 72, died on Wednesday, August 18, 2021 in San Antonio Texas. She was born in Austin, Texas on March 17, 1949, to Ed and Amy Kutac. Born on St. Patrick's Day, Mary sealed her fate when she married Gary Irish in 1980.

Mary earned her BA from the University of Texas at Austin, and her MS at Texas A & M University. She began her career as an environmental consultant for Dames & Moore in Houston and New Orleans.

In 1986, Mary and Gary moved to Scottsdale, Arizona where Mary worked as horticulturalist, consultant, teacher, public speaker, and author. She was the Public Horticulture specialist at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, for many years. Author of 11 gardening books, including a memoir of her life and garden in Scottsdale A Place of Our Own , and a large number of magazine articles.

Among her proudest achievements were her work as consultant on the Annenberg Foundation's gardens at Sunnylands, Rancho Mirage, California; serving as president of the board for the Boyce Thompson Arboretum; making a guest appearance on the nationally televised Martha Stewart Living ; hosting a Saturday morning radio show in Phoenix, The Arizona Gardener ; being a garden columnist for The Arizona Republic, the largest newspaper in the state and being a member of the editorial advisory board for the American Horticulture Society. In 2011, Mary and Gary moved to Castroville, Texas, and she directed the plant sales program at the San Antonio Botanical Garden.

Mary's passions included her own large personal gardens of unusual plants and vegetables, reading murder mysteries and quilting. She was also an excellent and avid bird watcher.

Mary is survived by her husband, Gary; sisters, Lucy and Richard Jalbert, Amarillo, TX, and Anne Jones, Tyler, TX; three nephews; and five grandnephews. Mary once described herself for the Arizona Republic as "noisy and fun-loving," and everyone who knew her would agree. She had a golden personality loved by all who knew her. One of her friends said, "Mary was one of those people that you had to pinch yourself to believe you were lucky enough to have known."

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to:  Friends of Castroville Regional Park, P.O. Box 173, Castroville, TX 78009. On the check mention for: Botanical Trail Project.