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iiabout
above: I love Salvias, such as this
golden culinary sage S. officinalis.
below: foraging in my own garden
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my background
as a kid growing up in New England...
I loved nature and helping my mom grow flowers and vegetables. My favorite spots
were the fields across the street and the woods up the road, with their ever
changing variety of plants and animals.
I draw my inspiration from the beauty of California's wild areas. Our meadows,
forests and coasts offer plenty of ideas for gardening. To bring them home I
use what I call 'controlled wildness'- adopting nature and gently keeping it
in bounds.
My first paying gardening job was in the mid 90's, as a grunt for a San Francisco landscape
architect. In the following years I freelanced in Los
Angeles, worked for gardening crews in San Francisco and Marin, and developed my
own freelance business.
My focus now is habitat gardening, growing food for people and
animals, finding ways to integrate native and low water plants, attracting
beneficial insects and birds, and making organic methods more accessible.
We can always learn new things by reading and through working in the
garden. Last year I began volunteering at the Strybing Arboretum nursery,
working mostly with the native plant section, and meeting many people with a
wide range of specialties. I also
keep a growing library of gardening reference books so that when I come
across a new challenge, I can get some informed help before moving ahead.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I'd love to
check out your garden and see what I can do for you.
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