STEVE HAMPSON
Steve Hampson has a master’s degree in Horticulture from Penn State University and was senior horticulturist at Roger’s Gardens, Corona del Mar in Southern California for over fifteen years. At Roger’s he led a monthly seminar on growing edibles, including fruit trees, berries, vegetables, and herbs, as well as on many different floricultural crops. Prior to moving to California, Steve was co-owner of a farm market and garden center in Western Pennsylvania where he raised and sold apples, berry crops, vegetables, bedding and vegetable plants, as well as specialty plants.
For much of his life he has been involved with growing and showing flowers and is an accredited judge for the American Daffodil Society, as well as a judge for the International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society. He has a particular fondness for daffodils, waterlilies, sweet peas, and orchids, all of which he grows at his home, as well as a wide variety of edible plants. Steve has travelled extensively in Europe, Asia, and Africa to study plants in the wild, and in particular orchids in their natural habitats.
SARAH LEE
Sarah’s landscape design journey is seeded from her love for design, plants and practicality. First was her journey into photography while getting her degree in applied physics. While working in high tech, her love for photography led her to over 25 years of a rewarding scrapbooking business. She built a large team across the US while raising her family. Her attraction to visual beauty drew her to succulents’ countless shapes, textures and colors. Their natural practicality and low maintenance intrigued her to start her extensive collection and research to understanding them. Like most homeowners in California, her family’s lawn suffered from repeated droughts and collected all the neighboring windblown weeds. When Zone 7 (the water district) and city’s lawn conversion rebates, it was the perfect solution to replace the troublesome lawn with her succulents and other low water plants.
Since completing her garden, she has designed many gardens throughout the bay area including multi-phase projects for homeowners. She has attended many design and horticultural trainings and classes from Ruth Bancroft Garden’s Dry Garden Certificate Program, UC Master Gardeners Program, Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper certificate, ReScape and Association of Professional Landscape Designers group and will be getting her Landscape Contractor’s license next. It’s been a natural culmination of science, practicality and design utilizing past experiences and interests into one place while creating spaces to be enjoyed by many in years to come.
JANET SLUIS
Janet Sluis is a Berkeley based horticulturalist specializing in low water, sustainable and easy care plants. Focused on replacing thirsty, labor intensive varieties with colorful, resilient alternatives, she works with plant breeders, hybridizers, and nurseries all over the world. Her plant collection test garden is shown in Kathy Brenzel’s latest book The Sunset Western Garden Book of Easy Care Plantings.
As a sixth generation member of a Dutch seed family, Janet suspects that plants are in her DNA. By the age of six she was hybridizing ranunculus and growing kale in her garden. After studying marketing, horticulture, and agricultural business, Sluis spent twenty years in production and product development for wholesale plant nurseries in California. When she is not traveling in search of new plants, you can find her battling slugs in her organic Berkeley test garden.
Follow us in Social Media
