Steve Cordera has a background in fine art and has worked as a scenic artist for various theaters including Seattle Opera and Tacoma Actors Guild; he’s also worked in film and on the Emmy winning TV show Northern Exposure. After traveling extensively throughout Asia, Steve lived in New York for several years where he witnessed the completion of the first phase of the Highline Park, which he credits with reigniting his interest in gardening.
Ethan Bodnar is a landscape designer, artist, and educator with a focus on interdisciplinary garden projects and building community through plants. Previously, he was a curriculum designer at Skillshare, a national board member of AIGA, and the author of Creative Grab Bag. In the future Ethan plans to design playgrounds, practice eco-therapy, and plant an apple orchard. He lives in Oakland, California, takes horticulture classes at Merritt College, and shares his projects at ethanbodnar.com
Antonia Adezio is the excecutive director of the Marin Art & Garden Center in Ross, California.
Sheri Powel’s company, Compost Teana, helps homeowners and landscape professionals find environmentally friendly solutions to all their landscape issues by working with, rather than fighting, natural processes. The result is a beautiful landscape with less work and fewer inputs.
Sandy Scott was born into a family of gardeners. Most of her horticultural knowledge came from following her father around his garden, asking questions, and begging to be allowed to weed. Sandy received a degree in art history at University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford. She blended her interests while volunteering at Filoli and the Huntington as well as working for Stanford. Sandy retired to Point Arena in 2000 and delights in sharing her garden.
Gary Scales has served as a trustee of the Marin Art & Garden Center for many years. He was a founding member and trustee of both of the Marin Rose Society and the Moya Library-Ross Historical Society. Gary is co-author of the book Ross, California. He has received awards from the American Rose Society for his monthly column on roses and has been recognized by Bay Area environmental and nature groups for his photographs of wildlife, particularly birds.
Rizaniño “Riz” Reyes is gardens manager for McMenamins Anderson School in Bothell, Washington. He also maintains RHR Horticulture, an enterprise dedicated to growing and designing gardens, floral design, and teaching and lecturing for various garden organizations and publications. Riz has a BS in Environmental Horticulture & Urban Forestry from the University of Washington and worked as a horticulturist for the UW Botanic Garden’s Center for Urban Horticulture.
Sabrina Howell remembers: “As a child, there was always wild water to muck about in.” And while raising her children, she rediscovered her passion for ponding. Sabrina is a Certified California Naturalist, a trained and experienced School Garden Teacher, and does workshops and consultations for the US Fish & Wildlife’s Schoolyard Habitat Program. She recently opened Wild Toad Nursery in Santa Rosa, California.
Lara Hermanson is a founding principal of Farmscape, LLC, the nation’s largest urban farming company. Since 2008, Lara has overseen the construction and maintenance of 400 commercial, residential, and restaurant farms. She is a sustainable agriculture consultant on Agrihood developments for Pulte Homes, Newhall Land, Northwestern Mutual, and the Core Companies. In addition, her firm has installed farms for the Michelin-starred Providence in Los Angeles and the Bon Appétit restaurants in San Francisco.
