Interests

• Edible plants
• Herbaceous perennials for north temperate gardens
• Alpine and rock garden plants
• Art

About

I am a horticulturist responsible for the Pounder Vegetable Garden, Shady Groundcover Collection, Heasley Rock Garden, and areas of the F.R. Newman Arboretum. I work alongside an amazing team of volunteers and fellow staff members to plan, care for, and teach about the plants in these collections and their connections to people. Additionally, I lead tours, assist in educational programming, and engage students in Cornell classes, particularly in the vegetable garden. I teach the Cornell course PLHRT 2010: The Art of Horticulture, where I have the opportunity to combine the arts and plant sciences for students across all majors.

I received my master’s degree from Cornell University in horticulture, with a focus on public garden leadership. Before moving to Ithaca for graduate study, I completed the practical horticulture program at Stonecrop Gardens in New York’s Hudson Valley. Prior to that, I was a farm manager for an organic CSA in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Although I’ve been working in horticulture for the past 10 years, my undergraduate degree is in fine art. After a career shift from the arts to agriculture, I discovered that public gardens represent the perfect synthesis of my interests and skills. What we do combines art, science, food, education and community engagement…and we get to play outside!