Meet Catherine Baj-Lindsey

Cat received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from universities in the Philadelphia area, but received her doctorate in Miami, FL. She considers Miami a very fun city and very multi-cultural.

She moved here because her husband was from Norfolk and they both love the beach. Her family had a beach home on Long Beach Island, NJ. Cat and her husband settled on Willoughby Spit and now she has a whole “beach family” here. She says that her back deck is a barbecue hub!

Cat retired as a senior director from AstraZeneca in December 2023. She loved her work and supervised a dedicated group of professionals from many countries and cultures. She is currently an adjunct associate professor at UMGC. In addition, she has an antique space on the Eastern Shore.

Cat always wanted to be a Master Gardener, but due to her work responsibilities, she knew she had to wait for retirement. She has always gardened, growing both vegetables and flowers. Her father was a gardener, and long before Doug Tallamy’s seminal book, her father dug up his suburban lawn to grow plants and vegetables, much to the chagrin of the neighborhood! She also wanted to be more involved in her new community and home.

Cat loved the classes – the content, the instructors, the camaraderie of the class, and the food. She thought graduation was very special and believes that everyone is very welcoming at the various activities.

To complete her internship, she volunteered at several Community Outreach events at the Hermitage Museum and Gardens, Pretlow Library, the Zoo, and the Navy Exchange. She also worked at the Fred Heutte Native Plant and Pollinator Garden and helped to plant the mermaid garden at Pretlow Library. She has also taken the classes to become a docent at the Norfolk Botanical Garden Butterfly House. She plans to continue participating in these projects, but also to continue to be open to new experiences. She would like to serve on a committee.

When Cat isn’t involved in Norfolk Master Gardener projects, she has “many hobbies and so little time!” She experiments with hypertufa. She likes the fiber arts and has a spinning wheel and a marudai for kumihimo. Cat loves photography of plants and wildlife, and she crafts and “repurposes” for her antique space.

Cat especially loves raising her Queen of the Night in the night-blooming cereus family, and the Queen has produced several blooms this year. She likes to select a few things each year that she has never grown before. This year it is seeds from the African Diaspora from Sista Seeds, and another Norfolk Master Gardener gave her lotus seeds, which are thriving!

Cat lives with her husband, Keith. She visits her 90-year-old mother in Pennsylvania often. When in PA, they visit old friends and keep their membership at the beautiful Longwood Gardens.

When you see Cat, be sure to introduce yourself and welcome her to the Norfolk Extension Master Gardeners.