Pruning Workshop --Mike Smith

Both the health and beauty of a garden depend on thoughtful maintenance through pruning.  Learn what to look for and how to make the best pruning cuts to  enhance your trees, shrubs and perennials.  

Mike Smith is co-owner of Joy Creek Nursery.  You can see his pruning  handiwork throughout the nursery, especially in the large rhododendrons around the house and behind our lavender path and in the numerous shrubs shaped into small trees that are grown throughout our gardens.  Mike is a passionate gardener who left a management job in big industry to start the nursery.    
 

Get Your Garden Going: Fundamentals of Organic Fertilizer - Patrick Petersen
The fundamentals in this case are the elements that make up a good fertilizer. Understanding how these elements last will help you know better how to use the fertilizer. Take an in-depth look at the how, when and why to use the many organic fertilizers and soil additives that are now available to gardeners.

Patrick Petersen received his degree from The Ohio State University in horticulture with a minor in entomology. After six years working as a nursery manager, he was hired as a horticulturist for Marion Ag. Services. His job is to educate customers in the of use horticultural products. Patrick is interested in the way the various elements of a garden - the soil, the bugs, the fertilizers, composts and plants – work together to create an ecosystem.
 

Nadine Black tried on many hats in our industry - from private gardener to wholesale plant sales – before she discovered that her real passion was helping retail customers create gardens. At Joy Creek Nursery, she has found a new set of hats, managing retail sales, conducting on-site garden consultations, and teaching workshops. In addition, she has acquired the Lifetime Certified Oregon Nursery Professional certificate from the Oregon Association of Nurseries.
 

John Caine comes to his job as Landscape Garden Designer for Joy Creek Nursery not only with a degree from Michigan State University but also with years of practical experience as an estate gardener. He gave the nursery its master plan and continues to help refine its gardens. He enjoys helping gardeners create the gardens they have always wanted.
 

Brewster Rogerson is a recognized authority on clematis and founder of the internationally respected clematis collection now being permanently settled into place at Luscher Farm in Lake Oswego by the Friends of the Rogerson Clematis Collection. Among his writings are over ninety "Clematis of the Month" articles for the website of the International Clematis Society.

Lee Cain lives, works and plays in Astoria , Oregon, with his wife and two kids. A former fisheries biologist, he now teaches Aquatic Biology and Integrated Science at Astoria High School . When he is not studying and teaching about things wet and scaly, he often has his binoculars on and is chasing birds with his kids.
 

Ron and Debbie Monnier own and operate Monnier’s Country Gardens, LLC, in Woodburn Oregon. The nursery and the gardens they have developed showcase an assortment of almost 1300 different varieties of fuchsias. Ron and Debbie have an active fuchsia hybridizing program and will soon be releasing new varieties to the area. In addition to fuchsias, they have many other collectable plants highlighted through the nursery and gardens. Their nursery supplies fuchsias to other growers and garden centers as well as directly to retail customers through their nursery and at various plant fairs. Ron’s expertise comes from experiences in the nursery business as well as the 20 years spent as a consultant with Woodburn Fertilizer. Ron makes regular presentations to garden clubs and groups throughout the Northwest and is seen regularly on TV promoting fuchsias.
 

Glen Andresen has been Metro’s natural gardening educator since 1994. This natural gardening program offers presentations, a summertime garden tour, and information on how to have healthy yards and gardens without the use of pesticides. Glen has been a Master Gardener since 1991 and has tended his own ¾-acre organic garden at a retreat center near Eagle Creek in Clackamas County since 1985. He is the host of the ½-hour edible gardening show "The Dirt Bag’ heard the second Monday of each month on community radio station KBOO (90.7 FM in Portland). He also writes "Ground View", a monthly gardening column for The Portland Alliance newspaper. Glen is an avid hobbyist beekeeper, keeping approximately 30 colonies of bees – give or take a swarm or bear attack. He has degrees in economics and music but still would rather play in the dirt.
 

Marietta O’Bryne and her husband Ernie O’Bryne are proprietors of Northwest Garden Nursery in Eugene, Oregon. Their large, exquisite garden contains thousands of species from alpines to specimen conifers and is frequently pictured in national garden publications such as Horticulture, Martha Stewart Living, Sunset and Fine Gardening. She has also written for several of those magazines. Marietta says, "I garden with my heart, body, soul and mind. I am a hands-on gardener, a digger of dirt, a multiplier of plants, may it be by seed, cutting, or division. All I want to do is garden. What has brought about this lifelong urge to bury my hands in soil and greenery, I don’t know. I grew up in large cities, but forever yearned for the countryside. In my earlier life, I moved from Germany to California, back to Europe and finally to Oregon. Beloved by landlords for leaving a trail of gardens at every rental, I was finally able to settle down in 1972 on the farm near Eugene that I share with my husband, Ernie, numerous animals, and thousands of plants. We grow anything we can get our hands on – vegetables, tiny alpines, colorful perennials, or huge trees. Twelve years ago, we started our Northwest Garden Nursery, specializing in perennials, and I think we’ll keep at it until we grow old and gnarly."
 

Leslie Gover has a degree in horticulture from Oregon State University, with a major in nursery production. Over the years, she has spent lots of time doing field work for the Forest Service and private industry assisting them with plant health care. She currently has her own nursery, Daisytoes, and is raising two children as well as countless plants.
 

Jolly Butler became familiar to gardeners throughout the Portland area through her "Gardening 101" column in Garden Showcase magazine. Also, many gardeners learned their gardening basics in her classes at Portland Community College. Recently, she ran a two-hour, call-in radio show called "Gardening with Jolly Butler" on KPAM in Portland. She is an Oregon State University Extension Service Master Gardener and is active in the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon. Oh, yes, and she is a gardener.
 

Ramona Wulzen received her love of all things wild from her mother. She has gardened both on a city lot and on three acres in the woods. She has also listened long and hard to the problems and solutions that other gardeners have experienced. The nature of her current garden has lead to her passion for ground covers and container gardening. Ramona is a veteran of our retail department and now works in our landscape department.
 

John Caine comes to his job as Landscape Garden Designer for Joy Creek Nursery not only with a degree from Michigan State University but also with years of practical experience as an estate gardener. He gave Joy Creek Nursery its master plan and continues to help us refine our gardens.
 

Lauren Hall-Behrens is the owner of Lilyvilla Garden Design and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon. Since 2001 she has been designing both urban and rural gardens in the Portland metropolitan area. Lauren comes to her work as designer from an academic background in psychology and art. Her three year old tropical/pan-Asian garden inspires her study of proportion, scale and the human relationship to physical spaces.
 

Lucy Hardiman, former president of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon, and vice-president of Friends of Rogerson Clematis Collection, is a driving force in the Northwest plant world. Through her garden design company Perennial Partners, her lectures and her writing in national publications, she expresses her sophisticated sense of design and color in the garden. She is a regional contributing editor for Horticulture Magazine and is on the perennial committee for Great Plant Picks™ from the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle.
 

Laura Crockett is the owner of GardenDiva Designs. She has been creating unique outdoor spaces in the Northwest and abroad for 12 years. Her gardens have been featured in national magazines such as Fine Gardening, Horticulture, and Sunset.
 

Paul Bonine is co-owner of the wholesale nursery Xera Plants Inc. with his business partner Greg Shepherd. He has worked in the nursery industry since 1992 beginning in Eugene and then moving to Portland. Paul's special interests include plants that are adapted to low water usage, perform well in the Portland area and expand the plant palette for Northwest gardeners.
 

Mike Smith and Maurice Horn are co-owners of Joy Creek Nursery.
 

Scott G. Vergara writes "if you need a one-sentence bio, say that one of my prized plants was a variegated poison ivy." That shows his passion for plants but it does not tell the depth of his involvement with horticulture. He has done genetic research, been a college educator, worked as plant development coordinator, and served as director of two botanical gardens. He is currently the Executive Director and Director of Horticulture at the Berry Botanic Garden in Portland, Oregon. One of his passions is carnivorous plants.
 

Linda Beutler published her first book in 2004, Gardening with Clematis. She assumed the position of President of the Pacific Northwest Clematis Society in 2005. She is currently an instructor at Clackamas Community College, Oregon, and curator of the Brewster Rogerson Clematis Collection. Her second book Garden to Vase was published spring 2006
 

Tom Fischer has been a resident of Portland since November, 2004. He spent the previous 18 years in Boston. For 14 of those years, he was on the staff of Horticulture magazine as Senior Editor, Executive Editor, and Editor-in-Chief. He is currently Editor-in-Chief at Timber Press. Besides acquiring books, he loves to write: he has published more than 150 garden-related articles and book reviews. At present he is busy creating the garden of his dreams at his house in Southeast Portland.
 

Richie Steffen is the Coordinator of Horticulture for the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden where he manages the rare plant collections and heads acquisitions of new plants for the garden. He currently serves as a selection committee member of the Great Plant Picks™ program and is always ready to share his enthusiasm for this excellent regional resource.
 

Nadine Black tried on many hats in our industry - from private gardener to wholesale plant sales – before she discovered that her real passion was helping retail customers create gardens. At Joy Creek Nursery, she has found a new set of hats, managing retail sales, conducting on-site garden consultations, and teaching workshops. In addition, she has acquired the Lifetime Certified Oregon Nursery Professional certificate from the Oregon Association of Nurseries.
 

Ramona Wulzen received her love of all things wild from her mother. She has gardened both on a city lot and on three acres in the woods. She has also listened long and hard to the problems and solutions that other gardeners have experienced. The nature of her current garden has lead to her passion for ground covers and container gardening. Ramona is a veteran of our retail department and now works in our landscape department.
 

Linda Beutler published her first book in 2004, Gardening with Clematis. She assumed the position of President of the Pacific Northwest Clematis Society in 2005. She is currently an instructor at Clackamas Community College, Oregon, and curator of the Brewster Rogerson Clematis Collection. Her second book Garden to Vase was published spring 2006
 

Maurice Horn, as co-owner of Joy Creek Nursery, has had the opportunity to trial a vast variety of perennials and shrubs. He is ever eager to find ways to create exciting gardens that use low to no water. He has conducted gravel gardening workshops for Metro, the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon (at Reed College) and Heronswood Nursery. In 2007, he led a workshop at Portland State University under the auspices of the Hardy Plant Society to install a no-water garden using Northwest native plants.
 

Dan Moeller, as curator for Hoyt Arboretum, oversees 185 acres and 8000 botanical and horticultural collections. He also acts as a consultant for both the Arboretum and Portland Parks and Recreation. Collaborating with other botanic gardens and arboreta worldwide, Dan has been instrumental in building a world-class collection of plants with educational, research, and horticultural value. An engaging speaker and media figure, Dan teaches a wide-range of audiences about plant maintenance, design, conservation, and diversity. Previous to his years at Hoyt Arboretum, Dan managed the 18 display gardens and 3 conservatories of the Chicago Botanic Garden. His many responsibilities included the supervision and education of "at risk" teens through the College First Program and the development of horticultural courses for the public. Dan graduated from the University of Colorado with a B.A. in Environmental, Population and Organismic Biology and from Portland State University with an M.A. in Public Administration with a specialization in Nonprofit Management and Natural Resource Policy.

20300 NW Watson Road  Scappoose, OR 97056
(503) 543-7474    (503) 543-6933 (FAX)
catalogue@joycreek.com