My return to Brookside Gardens will provide an opportunity to improve the gardens and community for the future. My focus is on long-term sustainability and growth. We are in the middle of master plan improvements, there are aging landscapes that need to be reimagined, the natural areas require reforestation efforts, and staff are enthusiastically working toward new ways to educate and inspire visitors to connect with the natural world. Brookside Gardens is a true environmental steward.

On this 50-acre historic garden, I oversee several gardeners by scouting assigned areas, creating task lists, offering direction and feedback, and providing opportunities for professional development. Beyond supervisory duties, I manage the landscapes around the 7.5-acre Pinewood Estate with the intention of returning much of the property to reflect the intent of the original Olmsted design.

I monitored and cared for overall plant health around 80 acres of unique gardens. I promoted best management practices by encouraging plant selections to match site conditions, maintaining proper irrigation cycles, adding soil amendments, and applying nutrients. With an evolving IPM program, I steered practices toward more natural and non-toxic methods, including organic pesticides, biopesticides, organic fertilizers, compost, compost tea, biochar, and flame torches to burn weeds.

With an ever-evolving position, I was very involved in the management of several garden areas including Aquatic Garden, Children's Garden, beds around the Visitor's Center, and a new 5-acre parking garden. I planned and implemented seasonal displays in beds and containers throughout these gardens. I also had a growing repertoire of lectures for adult education and I regularly gave tours of the gardens.After offering significant input on the original landscape plan, I designed and installed many large areas surrounding the newly-renovated parking garden. I drew on my extensive education and experience to create sustainable landscapes, utilizing a mix of native and low-maintenance plants. I also promoted a healthy ecosystem with deep-rooted grasses, pollinator plants, and sources of food and cover for wildlife.

I spent the first two years working strictly in the gardens. I planned, planted, and harvested the vegetable garden and kept the ornamental gardens at pristine condition. With the different types of gardens (Mediterranean, Rose, Cottage, Japanese, Woodland, Wetland, etc.) horticultural maintenance is very complicated.In 2013, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to implement a GIS (geographic information system) from scratch at High Glen Gardens, which opened up a whole new realm of gardening for me. My detail-oriented personality fueled my interest in taking the chaos of eight years of landscape installations, maintenance, paperwork, and memories and turning them into succinct digital records. I input plant information into the BG-Base database and mapped all the plants using BG-Map and a Trimble GPS unit. I also updated the basemap with AutoCAD which included geolocating garden features, mapping utilities, and drawing new renovations. There are very few people who can claim to have similar experience.