Walter Reeves dead: Beloved radio host dies as heartbroken colleagues pay tribute

Beloved radio presenter and gardening expert Walter Reeves has died aged 74. Reeves passed away on Friday (April 10) following a decade-long battle with Parkinson's disease. The presenter fronted the popular morning show, The Lawn and Garden Show with Walter Reeves, for 26 years on Georgia radio station WSB. He hosted the Saturday morning garden from 1994 to 2020, until his retirement.

Longtime WSB radio executive Condace Pressley said: "He was like your favorite bathrobe and slippers you put on Saturday morning with your cup of coffee. He gives you ideas about what you want to do with your lawn and your garden. His gift was making goals attainable." Reeves graduated from UGA with a degree in chemistry and was a University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agent from 1980 until 2005.

From 1998 to 2011, he hosted GPB's Your Southern Garden and also contributed a weekly column to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution from 1991 until the newspaper's print edition ended last year.

Reeves also authored and co-authored nine books on gardening.

Ashley Frasca, who took over his weekly gardening show in 2020, paid tribute to the late star on Saturday morning.

"Walter had this special quirkiness and natural curiosity," she said. "He was this larger than life personality. People would greet him like he was a rock star."

Announcing his retirement in 2020, Reeves said: "I started thinking seriously: 'When and how and why would I ever want to retire from radio?' I would need to be confident that the listeners to the Lawn and Garden show would continue to get good, research-based garden information.

"Secondly, I would want to be assured that whoever replaced me would be talented, knowledgeable and committed to being helpful."

He continued: "My two conditions were met. The show would continue to offer good, accurate information and my trusted colleague Ashley Frasca would be host. Best of all, it meant I could still occasionally be in the studio with Ashley.

"It meant I could continue doing my newspaper column. I would continue to manage my website and I can still answer garden questions there.

"So after hosting the Lawn and Garden show for 26 years, (that's 1352 shows, if you're good at math) I can have my Friday and Saturday nights back. I can travel for more than a couple weeks at a time. That will be great!"

Reeves added: "I have had a wonderful time being on the radio and I am grateful to WSB for the opportunity."

Tributes have flooded in for Reeves online, with one writing: "I had no idea that I loved gardening until I started listening to Walter in 1993. That show changed my enjoyment of life. Four or five years later I was fortunate enough to teach his sweet niece who showed me a Pike ad in Parade magazine with the simple statement, 'That's my uncle.' I screamed, 'Walter is your uncle?!' Later that year she gave me his autograph for Christmas. I still have it. How lucky metro Atlanta was to have Walter!"

Another penned: "Man, I'm only 35, way out of the shows 'demographic'. He was on the radio for most of my life! Loved listening on Saturday mornings when I was a young 20 year old driving trucks and cranes around town. I use his website now that I actually own a house. RIP Walter! You taught us a lot!"

A third shared: "My condolences to the Reed family. I listened to him for decades on the morning garden show on WSB. He was so knowledgeable about agriculture and delivered his knowledge with such a wholesome personality. I looked forward to catching him usually in the spring singing the Poison Ivey song. I did know of his illness. I know heaven is a little greener with him there."