The Latest Dirt - November 2024
Welcome to the Class of 2025 New Volunteer Trainees
Leading a project like New Volunteer Training has myriad aspects associated with it, ranging from challenge to fun. This year, we are fortunate to have all in-person sessions at the UC Master Gardener Program offices in Concord at the Bisso location. The interactive sessions with the trainees have been educational for both the trainees and the NVT Team.
The training philosophy focuses on a “So what?” philosophy, which involves distilling science-based information into bite-sized pieces that can help the public address complex garden problems. The expertise and background of this trainee class are well-suited to this approach. Each trainee is highly motivated to become an excellent UC Master Gardener volunteer.
Dorothy Abeyta and John Fike, NVT Project Leads
Born and raised in Contra Costa County, I grew up picking apples in my grandparents’ backyard orchard and collecting bushels of blackberries to make tarts for their neighbors. At home, I often spent my time harvesting tomatoes and basil for family dinners or digging in the soil to find potatoes to turn into batteries with my father.
Through these experiences, I gained a deep sense of wonder and respect for the power of plants and their ability to provide the world with food, medicine, and fuel. My love of plants inspired me to pursue coursework in botany and eventually enter the world of global health and malaria research—a disease where current pharmaceutical treatments contain botanical compounds as active ingredients. As a health and planetary health researcher, I am passionate about human, plant, animal, and planetary health interactions and interdependence.
As a gardener, I have experience with urban community gardens, native plant restoration, and backyard vegetable gardens. I recently moved into a new home near the base of Mt. Diablo, and I spend much of my free time clearing invasive grasses and establishing native plants in my yard. I am pursuing the UC Master Gardener program to deepen my knowledge and to learn how to best share techniques to troubleshoot common garden issues, implement integrated pest management, and garden sustainably with members of my community.
I grew up on eight acres in Lafayette, where my mother was always, and still is, in the garden pruning, weeding and planting. She taught me fertilization, planting techniques and shaping. She built planter boxes for vegetables, and we had fruit trees that fed the birds and deer more than us. Later, she planted rows of corn, tomatoes, and tomatillos, and I learned about drip systems. I also spent many days playing outside in my childhood friend’s garden, picking flowers for vases, grinding acorns for flour (that never worked out) and tending to our fort nestled in the poison oak. Both of our mothers had beautiful rose bushes, and we would break off the thorns to wear on our faces.
When my husband and I purchased our first house in Orinda, I inherited over three dozen heirloom rosebushes, most many decades old. I learned how to care for them from UC Master Gardener lectures at the nursery around the corner. My roses have only improved in their shape and amount of blooms under my care. I’ve slowly been removing the masses of jasmine covering to plant various bushes and flowers with varying success. I’ve recently found a love for seed collecting and planting, creating a seed box of less common flower varieties.
I look forward to learning how to grow and care for all types of flowers and edibles. I plan to share that knowledge in the local elementary school gardens.
My father was Mexican, and my mother was Irish/Scottish. I grew up in Oakland without a garden. Plus, I have yet to learn to speak Spanish or Gaelic. Language is a weakness of mine. I must admit I am nervous about learning the Latin names of plants.
It wasn’t until I became a nurse, thanks to a coworker, that I became interested in gardening. I have been experimenting since then with some success and some not so much. I love playing in the dirt and watching the miracle of life in its full circle.
I dream of becoming a UC Master Gardener. Nurses are natural teachers, and I look forward to sharing my newfound knowledge of the plant kingdom and gardening with the community.
My appreciation of gardening sprung from my time as a Brownie Troop leader and helping the girls achieve their gardening badge while living in Chicagoland, IL. The girls moved on, but I was hooked on gardening. I loved growing vegetables, especially tomatoes, and developing recipes that I could store for winter. Now that we have relocated to the East Bay, I am relearning everything I thought I knew about growing vegetables and taming squirrels. I am especially enjoying the year-round growing seasons.
I have recently retired and am pursuing the UC Master Gardener program so that I can enhance my practical knowledge and assist other up-and-coming gardeners. My main interests are in growing edibles, including vegetables, herbs, and citrus.
I grew up with a father who loved gardening in all its many forms. We grew numerous vegetables, fruit trees, nut trees (walnuts and almonds), herbs and even our own Christmas trees. My favorite memories were picking fruit right off the trees for breakfast and waiting to pick corn while the water boiled. My dad taught me to start vegetables from seeds, prune roses, weed the grass with needle nose pliers (to get the roots!) and mow the lawn. He instilled a love of gardens and plants in me. I still think of him when I visit famous garden sites around the world.
When I moved back to Walnut Creek after a divorce, I bought a home with a much larger yard and ample room to design my own garden, pool and planter boxes for cutting flowers. I am an avid tulip gardener, buying several hundred each year and sharing them with friends. I recently turned my front yard into a xeriscape to save on water. It is a work in progress!
A few friends have asked for guidance on their gardens, so I have given advice, drawn designs and chosen plants. I would love to offer more informed advice! After speaking with other UC Master Gardeners, I decided it was time to gain an in-depth knowledge of plants, soil, pests and watering.
I have lived in Contra Costa cities since 1984, including Orinda, Moraga, Lafayette and Walnut Creek.
Vegetable gardening was a way of life for my family. I grew up near my Italian immigrant grandparents, who grew all of their vegetables and fruit in their small backyards in Oakland and Berkeley. From them, I learned the art of grafting fruit trees. My parents also had a vegetable garden in our yard in Berkeley. So, it was natural for me to continue gardening once married and settled into our home. We also have a large, landscaped front and back yard, where we have spent much of our weekend time over the years. I have learned how to deal with the many plant diseases and pest issues encountered in maintaining a healthy landscape and garden, and I have appreciated the benefits.
Now that I am retired and have more free time, the UC Master Gardener Program will allow me to learn more about gardening, continue this enjoyable activity and share my interests with others.
In my work in health care over the past 30 years, I have seen how we need to work upstream to enable people to live healthy, thriving lives. Growing and eating healthy food is one way to promote a lifetime of good health.
Our children attended Eagle Peak Montessori School in Walnut Creek and had a positive science education experience in the garden. They even taught us how to compost (!). Their school garden experience inspired us to grow tomatoes, basil and blackberries in our home garden. Seeing that our boys loved eating vegetables and were willing to try new ones that they grew and picked themselves helped me see the value of school and home gardening.
I’m enjoying learning about the School Gardening program, the Demonstration Gardens, and Jardineros because each of these programs provides food to those who do not always have access to fresh produce in our communities. When people are hungry or lack proper nutrition or equitable access to the food they require to address their daily needs, they are less likely to get or stay healthy. Each of these programs helps create a healthier, more equitable society.
I’m excited about the opportunity to make healthy growing, eating and living a natural part of more people’s lives in Contra Costa County.
My little Hungarian grandmother couldn’t speak English well, but she could garden and cook! As a little kid, her garden was a refuge for me, and for decades, I dreamt of having a garden like hers someday. No matter where we’ve lived, I’ve managed to have a garden. I love propagation, which motivated me to study horticulture and landscape design at the Merritt College Horticulture Department.
Over the years, I’ve put that knowledge to work by propagating thousands of seedlings for several schools in and around Orinda. In the late 90s, I raised funds and developed a bird and butterfly garden at Sleepy Hollow Elementary School. A few years later, our family funded the construction of an organic vegetable garden at SHS. Much to my surprise, I received the William Penn Mott Award in recognition of my contributions to the community.
Decades later, I’m still volunteering to help with the school gardens. I hope to sharpen my skills through the UC Master Gardener Program and share them with the community in the years ahead.
Oh, and I finally do have the garden of my dreams.
I trace my interest in gardening back to playing in the dirt as a kid in Chicago!
We have been composting and growing our own vegetables since moving to our home in Walnut Creek 38 years ago. Our garden includes tomatoes in plastic bins, a Covid-era 12-inch raised bed constructed from leftover redwood planks and filled with adobe soil, and now two separate 8’ x 3’ x 2’ tall planter boxes made from reclaimed redwood with hardware cloth underneath and filled with appropriate soil.
These latest planter boxes coincide with our first visit to the Great Tomato Sale two years ago. That day had a transformative impact. Now we have superb vegetables in our garden practically year-round. We received initial insight into the UC Master Gardener program, with subsequent viewing of UC Master Gardener videos ranging from how to grow potatoes, why it’s important to keep roots in the soil, understanding watering the soil and not the plants, and why last fall, we planted fava beans in the box where we’d grown tomatoes to put nitrogen back into the soil.
We also had our first exposure to other UC Master Gardeners, who were incredibly helpful and friendly in every subsequent encounter. This experience led me to want to join this group and become a UC Master Gardener.
A day doesn’t go by that in addition to taking care of our chicken flock, we’re not attending to our vegetables and/or the young native plants that have replaced older drought tolerant plants in our landscape that didn’t attract environmentally important local pollinator insects or birds.
I’m looking forward to learning more about each focus area of what the UC Master Gardener program entails and giving back to the community.
My career was as a marketing executive and consultant in technology before retiring last year.
I can’t remember a time when gardening and plants were not treasured parts of my life. Growing up, my mother always had amazing flowers growing somewhere and anywhere. Prior to 1991, cymbidiums were a minor obsession in my family, and Oakland had an ideal climate.
In 1990, a move to Lafayette, a new marriage, a new home and garden, and a new climate decimated my blooming cymbidiums, and I started embracing the Contra Costa County freezes (hello peonies). After the epic freeze of December 1990, I started my cutting garden and gave my cymbidiums away. My goal has been to grow and propagate cutting flowers that last 10 days in the vase and have minimal scent (allergy issues). During the pandemic, I allowed a few veggies into the garden.
Some of my current horticultural goals include having something blooming year-round in the garden. I have also been tinkering with propagation, which has made me quite humble. The failures are too numerous to describe, but there are the occasional addictive successes.
As of April of this year, I am fully retired after a long career in estates, trusts, and tax law. I am more than ready for the next chapter of my life in horticulture.
I’m always happy to go to a nursery.
When I was 39 in 1993, my husband Rick and I moved to El Cerrito with our three children, ages seven and under. The house was a fixer-upper with a wonderful 1/4-acre yard. For the first time in my adult life, I wasn’t living in an apartment or house with no yard. My profession as a dancer, choreographer, and movement coach had kept me touring, living in cities, and working in studios and lofts.
Rick and I, raising our children, discovered native plants and the wonders of California, organic gardening and eating fresh raspberries, and the joys and challenges of working the land to try to create great soil and plants.
During these past few decades, I have taken the Docent Training at the Tilden Botanical Garden, volunteered in habitat restoration at Point Reyes National Seashore, and received the Permaculture Design Certificate. I am very inspired that regenerative agriculture has become a known practice as more and more growers are understanding the benefits of science and the wisdom and e?ciency of nature. I aspire to have a garden with no inputs and no outputs, but I confess to buying bag upon bag of soil, compost, worm castings, and plants grown at a nursery.
British economist Kate Raworth inspires me. She developed a framework called Doughnut Economics that outlines applications for sustainable development.
When I was about eight years old, my paternal grandmother (who had grown up on a farm in Pennsylvania) came to live with us. Together, we spent many hours outside working in our backyard. She usually had her hands in the soil, and I began to see how important the land was. She told me stories of farm life and instilled in me a love for gardening.
As an adult, I became interested in composting, taking a Master Composting class given through UC Davis. I learned of backyard composting and vermiculture and began composting in my backyard. Being an elementary school teacher, I sometimes felt overwhelmed by my students’ struggles and would head out to turn the compost pile and smell the earth. Seeing the steam rise and watching the living organisms helped me to look at the whole picture and see the beauty in the world around me. Now, as UC Master Gardener trainees, my husband and I have time to work together to learn and grow in the land around us.
After a six-year tour in the U.S. Navy, where I married my wife Karen over 40 years ago, I have spent my career in biotechnology, healthcare informatics, and general information technology, with the last two decades focused on data storage, management, and protection, and most recently, on cyber security protection and recovery. Now retired, I’m turning my attention to a new path where I can learn a new field of science, volunteer my time in partnership with my wife, and apply this knowledge to the property we recently purchased to become more self-sufficient and help others do the same.
My family moved to California from Minnesota when I was about four years old. I was not old enough to clearly remember my grandparents’ extensive vegetable gardens, but memories say they were impressive.
On the other hand, once we settled in the Martinez area, my mother was constantly growing and canning. She had a nice-sized garden with corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, and other vegetables. That was when I started getting interested in growing vegetables for the family. I helped her with her garden, and I was the chief gopher hunter, ensuring the hungry fellow did not continue to feast on our garden. I also helped pick the crop, prepare it for the table, and consume it at the table.
When my wife and I got married and had our first home, we started a relatively small garden, with me growing tomatoes and my wife growing all things floral and some vegetables. Our gardening grew with our second home in California, and although still small, it was fantastic to go out and pick a tomato and have it with dinner.
We now live in Walnut Creek, and our daughters are grown. They grow all types of vegetables in their own homes now. We are motivated by our daughters’ gardens; we have expanded our own garden. My interest also got another boost when we started going to Our Garden and attending the various talks on all aspects of growing.
Now, a whole new world has come into view. I’ve started experimenting with soil, mulching, different plants, watering, etc. I was hooked and needed more information, so I volunteered for the UC Master Gardener program and can’t wait to learn more and share with others.
My love of gardening started at a young age in my Grammy Olson’s, Grandma Madison’s and Grandma Delesha’s gardens. My interest was primarily focused on flowers, trees and shrubs then. They gave me tours through their gardens, which were artistic journeys rich in texture and color. I was hooked.
As I’ve gotten older, I continue to love the beauty of the natural world, and my passion has expanded to nutrition and the importance of whole foods. I am now focused on growing fruits, vegetables, herbs, and edible plants. My ultimate goal is to teach my family and community about the benefits of growing delicious and healthy food.
I’m intrigued by the nutritional value of food grown in environments that use no-till gardens, composting, soil health and irrigation. I’m also fascinated by the underground microorganisms that live in our soil and make up the soil microbiome.
My love for nature began as a little girl filled with wonder as I explored my grandparents’ garden. I would wander, surrounded by an abundance of avocados, mangoes, oranges and sugar cane. Each visit was a sensory experience with vibrant colors, scents, and tastes that captivated me. I vividly remember the joy on my grandfather’s face as he plucked a blood orange right off a tree and handed it to my sister and me… the juice dripping down our faces as we savored every bite.
I now greatly enjoy the experience and hard work of cultivating a home garden of my own. The hard work specifically was something that I did not understand as a child. Still, as an adult, it has been so rewarding, especially when you notice the small or sometimes significant changes in a plant over time. As I enter the program, I look forward to helping others become more educated regarding their gardens and inspiring them to share their knowledge and stories with others.
I was born in Walnut Creek, raised in Alamo, and moved to New York City after college. I returned in 2020 following COVID-19.
I was born in the Brooklyn Navy Yard Hospital while my dad taught navigation in Miami. After the war, we lived in New Jersey, and I remember exploring the woods behind that big old house, examining ferns, tiny blooms in the leaf cover, and, sadly, poison ivy.
Looking back, I first really noticed plants when my family arrived in Los Angeles. I was amazed by the passion flowers massed on a cyclone fence, palm trees along the highway, and huge avocado trees whose overripe fruit hung like little dark green missiles in the front yard. I thought we were in Hawaii!
After college, I joined the Peace Corps and met my husband while training in Chicago. We married in Gibraltar and returned to the Bay Area, where my husband started graduate school. In 1975, David and our three children moved into our first house. There were Camillas growing along the backyard fence, and we learned that a well-known Camilla hybridizer in the area sold his plants in the Lafayette Safeway parking lot on Saturdays in the spring! I became a collector.
We moved to a great old house on a little over a flat acre in Lafayette with a daughter in the middle of her junior year, a son about to start high school, and our oldest, a freshman at UC Berkeley. Naturally, I immediately began a decade-long love affair with roses. I think I might have had nearly 200 at one point.
It’s taken me all of maybe 25 years and two droughts to embrace natives and learn to embrace the challenge of living with less water. I’m down to 20 roses. All the rest are drought-tolerant natives. The lawns are gone, everybody is on a drip system, and dear EBMUD even congratulated us when our water usage dropped by 45%.
There’s so much to learn about attracting insects and birds, knowing when to plant what, and taking care of what’s already in the ground. I look forward to learning and sharing what I’ve learned.
My father was a gentleman farmer with a small plot in Kansas. He had a day job but came home every evening to tend the land he loved. He grew beautiful cutting gardens (where he would allow no cutting!) and all varieties of edibles. As I followed my dad around the garden, he taught me how to feed myself and others, and my mother and grandmother taught me how to preserve that delicious bounty for the winter months.
I have always kept a garden, no matter where I lived. I grew herbs when we lived on our boat, and one year, I even had a cherry tomato plant in a 5-gallon Homer bucket on the rear deck. Then, I grew lettuce in an AeroGarden when we traveled in our 5th wheel the year following our return home from living on Grand Cayman. There, I learned that Poinsettia plants grow like weeds, and coconut foam is a thing.
In 2007, we settled in the Bay Area. Two years later, we bought a house in Pittsburg. In 2014, we participated in the Lawn To Garden program and began a 10-year experiment with California natives in our front garden.
I have a dozen different fruit trees and a large vegetable garden in my backyard. The rest is bare dirt and rocks, which I’d like to landscape using low-water/low-maintenance natives and succulents. I no longer own a lawnmower, so it remains a work in progress.
Now that I have retired, I have time to pursue what’s best for my little piece of heaven. I’m excited to learn more and am looking forward to sharing my newfound knowledge with others in my community.
Susan is a Bay Area native who has lived in Concord for 26 years. She loves the outdoors, gardening, beachcombing, and going on adventures with her son. She is a retired Finance Manager and holds a Landscape Horticulture certificate from Merritt College.
My passion for plants comes from my mother, Rosa, who grew up in a small rural village in northern Italy. Her education was quite different from mine, focusing on horticulture, farming, gardening, and cooking. When she immigrated to America, she brought those skills with her and passed them on to me. I later graduated from Rutgers University, a land-grant university, with a degree in journalism. I also studied animal, environmental, and food sciences, and marine biology.
Like many in the region, I built a career in the IT industry after moving to San Francisco. Following a break to raise my family, I transitioned to academia as a writer for UCSF, where I supported professors and physicians with research papers, journal articles, and grant writing.
After retiring from UCSF, I dedicated much of my time to transforming our two-acre property in Orinda. I removed all the sod, converted the irrigation system to drip, and, with my mother’s help, created a native, drought-tolerant landscape. This project rekindled my love for gardening, and I delved deeply into learning about California’s ecosystem.
Drawing on the research skills I developed at UCSF, I enjoy solving gardening and landscaping challenges. I now share my knowledge as a volunteer gardening columnist for a local magazine. As a plant-based vegan, I also take joy in growing and harvesting my own food. I’m excited to expand my expertise through the UC Master Gardener program, using science-backed research to help others with plant-related challenges.
My gardening journey began with my mother, who played a significant role in cultivating my love for plants and the outdoors. We had a sunroom in our house full of plants, many of which had been propagated from clippings collected from friends and neighbors. I was amazed at her effort to grow and maintain her plants. I learned at a young age that gardening requires patience. Watching plants grow takes time, and success doesn’t happen overnight. My Mom always emphasized the importance of consistency and hard work, traits that not only applied to gardening but to life in general.
My mother also planted a small garden in our backyard annually. I most looked forward to the fresh tomato sandwiches she made during the summer. Even today, I can’t wait until the tomatoes come in so I can enjoy a fresh tomato sandwich. This early exposure to gardening sparked my curiosity and formed the foundation for my own passion.
Gardening has always been a source of joy and fulfillment for me, offering a connection to nature, a chance to create beauty, and an opportunity to nurture life. As I’ve cultivated my garden over the years, I’ve discovered that it is more than just a hobby. It’s a passion that has grown into a desire to share this love of plants and gardening with others.
My desire to become a UC Master Gardener stems from a deep love of gardening, a commitment to community service, and a passion for sustainability. By pursuing this path, I aim to grow as a gardener, make a meaningful impact in my community, and share the joy and benefits of gardening with others.
My parents’ horticultural passion inspired my interest in gardening. It is in my genes. My great-grandmother was a member of the Bozeman Botanical Gardens at the turn of the prior century. Her husband was the founding President of the land grant school, Montana State.
As a young lad, I earned meager wages as the neighborhood gardener. In college, I surprised myself with my one and only A+ grade – in plant taxonomy. I continue to enjoy the magic of Mother Earth in my backyard – with my sunflower forest, pumpkin patch, avocado and citrus groves, boxwood mazes, and 184 needy rose bushes.
I am pursuing the UC Master Gardener program to deepen my understanding and share the good news about the beauty and magic of horticulture.
I grew up in Oakland and San Leandro, where colorful, showy plants bloomed easily. The soil was silky and rich, and the weather was sunny and mild. Every house was alive with vivid azaleas, rhododendrons, calla lilies, begonias, and fuchsia! During the summertime, I spent my babysitting money on seeds and grew armfuls of zucchini, lettuce, and green beans.
Years later, I moved to Danville with high hopes of recreating the same vibrant garden. My zeal turned to shock as my shovel hit hard-packed clay, and my favorite flowers withered in the heat! Thwarted but not deterred, I turned to books, nursery people and neighbors for advice. Little by little, I worked the compost into the soil, one shovelful at a time. I noted the sun patterns and learned to layer plants so that heat-tolerant ones shaded some. I began to plant marigolds for natural pest control. I failed sometimes, but I learned. Today, the roses are happy against the southern wall, English ivy tumbles over the stone wall, and azaleas blossom in the cool canopy of crepe myrtle trees.
Now, after a 40-year career as a corporate scientist, I’m thrilled to pivot and blend my science skills with my favorite hobby. As a UC Master Gardener, I want to help other rookie gardeners solve pesky gardening problems and experience the thrill of seeing their gardens blossom. I’m passionate about helping teachers and students plant their seeds and begin a lifetime love of sustainable gardening.
I grew up and studied in the Philippines and moved to Contra Costa 15 years ago. I have recently switched careers from corporate to becoming a meditation teacher and energy healer. Gardening has supported me in this new career path. When I meditate, I feel a closer connection to the earth and find planting a meditative activity.
Through the UC Master Gardener Program, I aspire to teach the community how to improve their gardening knowledge and skills and, in the process, find a place to cultivate inner peace and optimism. When I see a seedling sprout, I see hope—it makes me believe that forces around us help us change our current situation, progress and grow. I would love for others to experience that kind of hope, too.
I’m a Bay Area native and proud daughter of Filipino immigrants. My partner, from a family of entomologists, has always encouraged me to identify our local plants and introduced me to patio gardening. Their support has been the foundation of my gardening journey. Our garden has since expanded to several raised beds. I’ve enjoyed learning about plant/soil biology, seasonal eating, and experimenting with indigenous gardening techniques, such as companion planting, harvesting rainwater, and olla irrigation. Each gardening experiment has been a fun learning opportunity for me. I also introduced native plants this year and can already see the difference in how much new habitat we’ve attracted!
I want to help reconnect people with their food sources, the way gardening has done for me, increasing awareness of where food comes from and the effort required to produce it. I also want to celebrate and preserve cultural traditions by growing culturally significant crops and engaging diverse communities in gardening specific to their cultural cuisines.
I would love to be more involved in our local gardening initiatives. These initiatives aim to provide more nutritious and affordable food options for urban areas, promote healthier eating habits, and contribute to environmental sustainability by reducing food scarcity. These initiatives range from setting up rooftop gardens and container gardens to community gardens that educate urban residents about the benefits and techniques of growing their food in limited spaces.
My interest in gardening stems from a desire to learn practical science, promote sustainability and share knowledge with others. I am eager to connect with like-minded individuals or organizations who share my passion for sustainable gardening and community outreach. Participating in the UC Master Gardener Program, I look forward to learning and promoting sustainable, environmentally friendly gardening techniques, better understanding biodiversity support and how to contribute to local biodiversity and support wildlife habitats. Most importantly, I would like to implement research-based gardening practices to grow the most delicious produce and improve soil health and water conservation specific to the Bay Area.
I am passionate about sharing my love of science and exploring the world around us. I have enjoyed vegetable gardening since I was a child. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I led a student group renovating and operating an on-site vegetable garden at a boarding school in rural Kenya.
As a lifelong volunteer, I have explored new options since I retired. A friend recommended the UC Master Gardener program for its unique approach and community of volunteers. My father was an agricultural entomologist, and I am particularly excited to learn more about insects and other wildlife and how to create and manage environments that support their habitats. I spent 35 years in science education developing hands-on exhibits and activities, and I hope to use my experience to support the program in whatever way is most helpful. I look forward to joining other volunteers devoted to helping our community.
I was born in Taiwan, and because my father was a Taiwanese diplomat, we moved to Turkey for two years. Later, we relocated to the U.S. for schooling, and I’ve since lived in Pennsylvania, Chicago, the Washington, D.C. area, Los Angeles, and finally settled here in El Cerrito.
My love for gardening began when I took on the responsibility of caring for my grandfather’s Chinese orchid in Taiwan. Over the years, except for the time I lived in an apartment, I’ve always had a garden. Gardening was much easier on the East Coast, where rain is more consistent throughout the year. It took me a few years of living on the West Coast to adjust to the need for watering during the dry season.
I’m now fortunate to have a fairly large garden with many fruit trees, including several grafted with a variety of types—it’s not unusual for one tree to have seven or more grafts. Although I love growing food crops, I also mix ornamentals and flowers with my vegetables. While my garden may not be particularly tidy, it’s always full of life. I’m constantly exploring smarter ways to cultivate and nurture it.
I grew up in the Midwest in a rural suburb of Minneapolis, MN, which offered a variety of farm-grown fruits and vegetables and a climate favorable to growing beautiful flowers in the Spring/Summer. My love of plants and gardening began as a child when I worked with my parents to plant fruits and vegetables in our home garden and harvest them for the table. My mother also taught me the art of preserving fruits and vegetables, which I continue to enjoy doing.
When my husband and I bought our first home in Pleasant Hill in 1988, the yard had potential but needed full landscaping. This included designing a landscape plan, installing a sprinkler system, and identifying shrubs/trees/plants that would grow and survive in the Diablo Valley climate. Over time, the yard became beautiful as we learned what worked in this climate.
Even our five children participated in the yard transformation and consequently got “the gardening bug.” They now have their own gardens and are eager to share what they have grown with the rest of the family. Gardening has become a family-friendly competition!
I’m pursuing the UC Master Gardening program to deepen my knowledge and develop new gardening skills. I retired one year ago from a healthcare advertising, marketing, and public relations career, so I have more time to pursue my passion for gardening. California native plants, container gardening, organic growing techniques, and pollinators are a few topics I’m interested in learning about and sharing my knowledge as a volunteer in the community.
I grew up in northern Virginia and spent summers in southern California, two very different climates. My parents had gardens and frequently invited me to join them, but my green thumb didn’t develop until later when I helped found my college’s organic garden.
I majored in environmental science and spent semesters abroad studying botany in New Zealand and researching urban beekeeping in Paris. Combining my interests in travel and organic agriculture, I volunteered on a farm in Japan and a honeybee sanctuary in England.
After moving to Berkeley, I discovered my passion for nutrition and became a Certified Holistic Nutritionist. Encouraging my clients to heal through food helps us contribute to a healthy food system that we can participate in through gardening.
I am also passionate about sustainability education, and when working with the public, I’m eager to help more folks learn to love California native plants.
Our home in El Cerrito has a shaded garden—mostly mulch and mint—that we share with our two rescue dogs.