Garden Hotline Staff

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  Laura Matter

  Laura Matter has been a practicing horticulturist for the past 36 years, studied Landscape Horticulture at South Seattle Community College and has an Associate of Arts degree from Seattle Central Community College and a B.A. in Botany from the University of Washington. She has worked as a supervisor of an interior plant maintenance crew in downtown Seattle high-rise buildings. During 10 years with Seattle City Light, she worked with her crew to replace and reduce pesticide use at the utility. Under her guidance, a large electrical station was able to be registered as a Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary with the State of WA after being enhanced with native plants, birdhouses, and using natural alternatives instead of pesticides. Laura ran her own landscape maintenance business for 14 years and currently provides landscape consultations, specializing in native plantings, wildlife habitat and edible gardens. She worked at Swanson’s Nursery in the information booth answering phone and in person gardening questions from customers. She was a block leader, committee head, site coordinator and a senior garden advisor at Picardo Farm P-Patch where she gardened for 20 years. Laura is currently the Natural Yard Care Program Director at Tilth Alliance and specializes in watershed health, pollinator gardening and integrated pest management education. In her own time Laura enjoys vintage movies, photography and more gardening.

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  Melissa McGinn

  Melissa McGinn has been in the green industry for almost 20 years. She has a BA in Botany from the University of Washington and studied Landscape Design at Edmonds Community College.  In the beginning of her horticultural career she was employed at local nurseries including Sky Nursery, Emery’s Garden, and Bellevue Nursery. After returning to the U.S. following an appointment as an Environmental Education Action Agent of the Peace Corps in Gabon, Central Africa, she decided to make sustainable education her career. For 8 years she worked for In Harmony Sustainable Landscapes, educating clients how to be more sustainable in their gardens and teaching Integrated Pest Management classes to coworkers. While in Bothell, she volunteered as an organizer for Sustainable Bothell, an organization dedicated to educating, motivating, and connecting local community members.  Melissa was manager for Rooster’s Rendezvous at Country Village for 6 years and currently manages a community garden in Mill Creek that helps donate food to a local food pantry.  Melissa is wife to a computer guru and mother of a 4 year old girl.

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  Rosie Cullinane

  Rosie Cullinane earned her BA in interdisciplinary studies at Western Washington University’s Fairhaven College, with a concentration in ethnobotany, ecology, and art history.  She continued her academic studies at New York University, where she received her MA, also in interdisciplinary studies in ethnobotany. “I originally thought I wanted to be a horticulturist, as I had been serving as a veteran certified Master Gardener in Kitsap County for seven years. But after I returned to college, my interests in plants expanded into ethnobotany.” What she enjoys most about the subject of all things related to the plants is the interconnectedness of all aspects of life on the planet. “What is so fascinating to me in my studies in ethnobotany is the history of how plants increase their range and scope across the world, through people-plant relationships and how the artwork tells the story of these relationships. I decode plant symbolisms and plant depictions that often reveal horticultural and ecological knowledge of the past”. After graduate school, Rosie worked as a Children’s Educator for the New York Botanical Garden in Bronx, NY, and took on plant-related occupations and projects once she returned to Seattle. Rosie hopes to continue her advocacy in sustainable food systems, water quality and environmental stewardship through her work at the Tilth Alliance. Rosie continues research work with art historians to identify plants in art and artifacts and to help understand the cultural context and significance of the history of people-plant relationships, enjoys the outdoors and learning things about Nature.  

   

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  Nate Howard

  Nate Howard received a BS in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and History from Tulane University in 2015.  A lifelong lover of the natural world, Nate is an experienced environmental educator with roots in the diverse ecologies of regions including New England, New York City, the Mississippi River Delta, and, of course, the Puget Sound.  With a deep interest in urban nature and its connections to and impact on our social fabrics, Nate is passionate about communicating ways in which people can live harmoniously with the natural world – with a particular interest in urban forests, pollinator corridors, and waterways.  These qualities steered him towards his current position as a Natural Yard Care Coordinator with the Garden Hotline, where he enjoys discussing options for living sustainably in the city.  When not at the call desk, you can find Nate peering into any good street tree canopy in search of birds, bugs, and other critters.

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  Grace Fusani

  Grace Fusani has been getting their hands dirty since the age of 8, growing marigolds and helping their mom wrangle bindweed. In their teens, they were employed at Grosse Ile Pet & Garden Center and during college they worked as the Rooftop Garden Coordinator for the Green Garage, growing and selling herbs & edible flowers to local businesses while also managing the co-op’s composting systems and maintaining the native Green Alley next door. They graduated with BA in Anthropology & a BA in Italian from Wayne State University. While in Detroit, Grace participated in the Detroit Biodiversity Network and kept in touch with local urban farm efforts, occasionally assisting with Keep Growing Detroit activities.  After moving to Seattle, Grace kept pursuing their love of plant knowledge and landed a job at Walt’s Organic Fertilizer where they learned how to manufacture and apply organic fertilizers & amendments while caring for the shops’ plant inventory, both indoors and outdoors. Wanting to move onto a more hands-on sector of horticulture, Grace acquired a landscaping job with Homegrown Organics which allowed them to see the end results of their customers’ plant purchases. During this time, Grace realized that agriculture would combine all their major loves in life; gardening, cooking, and feeding people, and so they graduated from Viva Farms’ Practicum in Sustainable Agriculture in 2023. Now they work to facilitate food access & garden education in their local communities, while keeping in touch with the farmers of tomorrow. Away from all the fun of the Garden Hotline desks and outreach, in their free time Grace enjoys experimenting with different cuisines, becoming one with the forest, gaming, and more gardening.