Tom Branca

Teaches:
Introduction to Horticulture
Special Projects in Horticulture
Urban Community Gardening




My educational pursuits began after serving four years in the navy during the Vietnam War. Upon being discharged I attended Laney College where after 3 years I earned an AS degree in computer science/data processing. During my last semester there I was introduced to the wonderful world of plants so I continued my education at Cal State Hayward in the Biology Dept. Another year and then I transferred to UC Berkeley where I received my BS in Botany. Into the world as a grower at a local wholesale nursery soon sent me back to school to continue graduate studies in horticulture at UC Davis. I graduated UC Davis in June of 1980 and was hired by the Landscape Horticulture Dept. at Merritt College.

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Chris Grampp

Teaches:
Irrigation
Construction
Landscape Design

Chris is a licensed landscape architect in California (#2499). He has taught design and construction at the Merritt College Department of Landscape Horticulture since 1986, and maintains a private practice focusing on residential and public landscape design. Chris has a Master's degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley (1981), and has also taught at the University of California Berkeley, UC Extension, and Diablo Valley College. His writings have appeared in Landscape Magazine and The Meanings Of Gardens (MIT Press).

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Lawrence Lee
Teaches:
Introduction to Horticulture,
Plant Terminology Plant ID,
Garden Maintenance

I started gardening when I was 7 years old and everyone thought it was just a phase, but I have never stopped growing plants and creating gardens! My love of plants led me to a degree in Botany at UC Berkeley, classes in Horticulture at UC Davis and then a Masters in the Longwood Graduate Program at the University of Delaware. Horticulture has been a wonderful profession which has included working for several botanical gardens, nurseries, starting my own rare plant business, and doing garden consulting. From plant exploring in China & South Africa and working at the U.S. National Arboretum and the U.C. Botanical Garden I have come to appreciate the awesome diversity of plants. I have also worked at Berkeley Horticultural Nursery, grown and sold rare plants at the San Francisco Flower Show and lectured widely on plants and gardens. Most recently, I’ve had the pleasure of helping others create gardens, greenhouses & conservatories and to practice sustainable horticulture. Most of all I love growing plants and talking about them. And, now, as a new faculty member in the Landscape Horticulture Department, I get to talk about plants and gardens all day! My specialties are succulents, sub-tropicals, beautiful, strange and wonderful herbaceous plants, and greenhouse/nursery management, but I have also grow bonsai, rock garden plants, orchids, rare fruits and vegetables, and love to prune just about anything. I am excited to become part of the Merritt Horticulture Community and look forward teaching and talking about plants and gardens with everyone.

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Michael Alliger

Teaches:
Introduction to Aesthetic Pruning
The Art of Pruning Deciduous Trees & Shrubs
Finding the Essence of a Tree
Pruning Flowering Trees and Shrubs
Pruning Maples
The Art of the Focal Point Tree
Pruning for the Big Picture
Pruning Conifers
Pruning Japanese Gardens
The Art of Tree & Shrub Reduction
Aesthetic Pruning as a Career

Suzanne Arca

Teaches:
Plant ID

SUZANNE ARCA, B. A. Design Architecture, is a Horticulturist, Landscape Designer and contractor with 24 years experience in the field. She is owner of Suzanne Arca Landscaping, a Bay Area Design/Build firm. She is also a teacher Landscape Architecture Department at U.C. Berkeley extension.

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Jayvan Arsdale

Teaches:

Woodworking and Joinery in the Garden

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Susan Ashley

Teaches:
Plant Propagation
Advanced Plant Propagation

I am a part time instructor teaching LH24 Plant Propagation and LH52 Advanced Propagation. I began at Merritt as a Horticulture Student in 1979, and basically never left. For 16 years I grew the plants for the Department Plant Sales; several years ago I made the shift to teaching. LH 24 is a popular class. Almost everyone enjoys growing plants. I certainly do.

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Nik Bertulis

Teaches:
Natural Building
Regenerative design
permaculture

Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Nik earned a degree in Ecological Design from Colorado College in 1998. He has worked for a wide range of professionals in the ecological arena including, The Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, Buster Simpson, Living Structures, and Earth Corps. In 1999 he co-founded Monsoon Arsenal, an award winning design/build collective that worked in Natural Building and environmental art in S. Carolina, Texas and New Mexico. Nik’s current obsession is with integrated water systems and ecological sanitation. He also teaches Natural Building and freelances as an Ecological Designer when he’s not digging in his garden or riding his bike.

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Ed Brennan

Teaches:
Soil Management & Plant Nutrition,
and related classes

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Bill Castellon

Teaches:
Rocks in the Landscape
Introduction to Bonsai
Pruning Pines
Pruning Container Trees and Shrubs

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Joycelyn Cohen

Although I have pursued a variety of careers my underlying interests have not changed as an ecologist, an artist and a passionate advocate for trees. In the 1970’s I participated in the ”back to the earth” movement and combined a publishing endeavor with subsistence living on a 10-acre farm in Indiana. I restored the farmland to native habitat and worked for many years to balance land restoration with having an organic garden, a raspberry business and the publishing business.

After receiving graduate and undergraduate degrees in the arts and several careers later, I began classes in horticulture at City College of San Francisco, which led me to a gardener position for the National Park Service; at last I perceived my true calling, taking care of trees in an urban landscape. I started classes at Merritt College including the Aesthetic Pruning series. I also received the Garden Design Certificate at UC Berkeley and became a Certified Arborist. I apprenticed with Dennis Makishima, a renowned aesthetic pruner who guided me on a journey integrating my art, craft, aboriculture and urban forestry expertise and skills.

Besides teaching Arboriculture, my own business, Poetree Landscapes & Arboriculture combines tree care and preservation with aesthetic pruning, garden design and landscape restoration. I serve on the Urban Forest Council for the City of San Francisco, an advisory board to the Mayor and Board of Supervisors, and a Board member on the San Francisco Tree Council, which works to protect and preserve trees on public and private property.

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Peter Churgel

Pete’s website

Teaches:
The Art of the Wisteria
LH-026 Pruning

Gardening was always a passion and grew to include bonsai and Japanese gardens. While a Master Gardener I enjoyed passing on my knowledge helping others solve their gardening problems. Finding out about the Aesthetic Pruning program, I went to check it out, and was thoroughly hooked! I took all the Aesthetic Pruning classes, then helped Michael Alliger train his ’hands-on’ group and assisted the LH 26 Pruning class.

Encouraged to get involved at the school and teach, I developed a class about a subject I loved and ‘The Art of the Wisteria’ was born. I eventually took over the LH 26 Pruning Class from Michael. I am a Certified Arborist, I’ve earned the Aesthetic Pruning Award and I’m active in the Merritt College Pruning Club. I enjoy taking hikes and bike rides with my wife.

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Marisha Farnsworth

Teaches:
Natural Building

Marisha Farnsworth teaches ecological building at Merritt College in her home town, Oakland, CA where she works with students to design and build small structures made of earth, straw, bamboo and recycled materials. In addition to co-founding The Natural Builders, a contracting company based in the East Bay, Marisha has conducted research and design and has traveled to work on projects for organizations including Builders Without Borders, Architecture for Humanity, and Kleiwerks International. She is currently co-directing, Urban Biofilter, a bourgeoning non-profit that designs, implements and advocates for green infrastructure in environmentally degraded urban communities.

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Mary Fisher

Mary Fisher Garden Design

Teaches:
Landscape Design

Mary has been co-teaching the Landscape Design class (18/22 A & B) with Chris Grampp for two years and was the teaching assistant for that same class for several years previous. While working as a graphic designer, Mary began studying horticulture in the early 90’s at Foothill College and then continued at Merritt, eventually getting three certificates in Landscape Horticulture and Design. She is a Certified Landscape Designer with the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) and currently serves on the APLD East Bay board of directors. Mary has over ten years of experience in landscape design, installation and maintenance with her business Mary Fisher Garden Design (www.maryfishergardendesign.com).

Sharon Gibson
Teaches:
Plant Terminology and CAD

Horticulture is my third and hopefully final career. Starting as a librarian, I worked for many years as a computer systems analyst, but felt increasingly disconnected from what is true and real. For me, gardening is literally a grounding experience that can transform our lives, and I wanted to share that experience with others. This desire took me to the certificate program in Landscape Architecture at UC Berkeley Extension, and then here to Merritt for much-needed horticulture classes. And while assisting Chris Grampp with the CAD class, I discovered a love for teaching! So now my time is divided between teaching responsibilities, a small landscape design business, and plenty of volunteer work. I'm very honored to be associated with the Landscape Horticulture Department, and the people who inhabit this bit of time-space, because there is a kind and gentle spirit here found few other places. I hope you will consider joining our community!

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Pete Gumas

Teaches:
Turf Grass Management

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Bob Hornback

Teaches:
Plant Materials: Ornamental Grasses and Designing with Ornamental Grasses

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Connie Hubbell

Teaches:
Floral Design

Connie came into floral design through the garden gate. She has certificate degrees in both Landscape Horticulture and Floral Design. Connie has worked as a freelance floral designer for twenty years specializing in events and corporate and private accounts as well as working in several East Bay flower shops. She has taught floral design at Merritt College for over sixteen years.

With sensitivity and a healthy dose of humor, Connie helps students to achieve an understanding of the art and mechanics of flower arranging as well as to refine their artistic style.

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Kenneth Jones

Teaches:
Roses

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Dr. Glenn Keator

Teaches:
Plant ID
Plant Terminology
Designing with Natives
Taxonomy

Glenn is a free-lance botanist, teacher, and writer. Besides teaching part-time at Merritt College, he teaches at Strybing Arboretum, Regional Parks Botanic Garden (Tilden), and California Academy of Science. Courses at Merritt include Mediterranean and advanced natives, and conifers i.d. courses, and a new course this fall on designing gardens for natives. His primary interest is California natives, their identification and garden uses. Glenn’s books include Plants of the East Bay Parks , In Full View: Three Ways of Seeing California Plants , and the The Life of an Oak: an Intimate Portrait. A new book from UC Press, Trees of the San Francisco Bay Region, is due out next year.

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Ken Litchfield

Teaches:
Mushroom Cultivation
Growing And Using Healthful Herbs
Beneficial Beasts in the Garden and Landscape

Ken Litchfield is a naturalist with a professional background working and teaching in science, writing, technical illustration, computer graphics, photography, and human health and fitness. He consults, instructs, and trains at various organizations and institutions and lives and works on a farm. In the Landscape Horticulture Department at Merritt Community College Ken teaches Mushroom Cultivation, Beneficial Beasts in the Garden and Landscape, and Growing and Using Healthful Herbs, each with beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels, A, B, and C. These classes are electives toward the Landhort Permaculture Certificate.

Ken prefers teaching the ecological relationships of the three macro kingdoms of Plants, Animals, and Fungi with the celestial kingdom for sunlight, rain, and gravity and the mineral kingdom for minerals, compost, and the microfloralfaunalfungal organisms that ferment nutritional amalgams to feed the whole system that is manipulated by the human gardenfarmanager symbionts so no poisonous pesticides are ever needed because everything is diversified and shared in the pursuit of happiness, health, and wealth rather than monocultured and commoditied for immediate gratification.

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Richard Meacham

Teaches:
Fruit Tree Pruning

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David McGinnis

Teaches:
Construction
Irrigation
Site Operations

I started my contracting business in 1976 doing maintenance gardening. My goal as a landscape contractor was to learn how to do everything that comprised the business of building a garden: design, all the different trades necessary for the work, and the interaction with the client. I teach Landscape Construction, Irrigation, Irrigation Troubleshooting, and Horticultural Equipment. I can tell you about the contractor's exam, how to cook lunch on the job, how to work in the dark, and much much more.

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Jane Miller

Teaches:
Plant ID

Jane is a horticulturist and partner in the Landscape Architecture firm of 2M Associates in Berkeley that has been in business since 1981, specializing in garden design and park, open space and recreational trail planning. She teaches various plant identification classes at Merritt and has been doing so since the late 1980s. She also teaches plant identification /planting design classes at UC Berkeley Extension. She has taught classes in the Landscape Architecture Department at UC Berkeley, San Francisco Botanical Gardens at Strybing Arboretum, Foothill College, and co-taught planting design at UC Davis for 10 years. Her work has been published in Garden Design, Sunset Magazine, and Better Homes and Gardens. And Jane really, really likes plants!

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Clytia Montllor Curley

Teaches:
Insects

Clytia Montllor Curley received her PhD from UC Berkeley (Entomology, 1985); she was a research entomologist at the university and in industry for almost 20 years. Her research interests focused on many aspects of insect-plant interactions. She has also been teaching part-time since 1994, and in 2006 retired from a UC Berkeley research position in order to continue teaching at Merritt and Laney Colleges, UC Extension, and Cal State East Bay.

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Yuki Nara
Yuki’s Website

Teaches:
The Art of the Laceleaf Maple

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Ann Northrup
Ann’s Website

Teaches:
Plant ID

Richard Orlando

Teaches:
Weeds
History of Gardens

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Sandy Purcell

Teaches:
Integrated Pest Management

Sandy Purcell teaches a short course on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for ornamental landscapes. He is an emeritus professor of entomology at UC Berkeley, where he taught general entomology and pest management and did research on insects in relation to plant disease. He is a co-author of the entomology textbook, "Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity" (Oxford University Press).

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Ellyn Shea

Teaches:
Arborist Exam Study

Ellyn Shea has over 10 years’ experience in horticulture and arboriculture and has been an ISA Certified Arborist for over 7 years. She developed the Tree Care Program at Friends of the Urban Forest in San Francisco and continues to teach arboriculture to citizens and professionals. She taught an ISA Arborist Exam Study Series at Merritt in the summer of 2009. Current projects include a variety of surveys, reports and management plans for Tree Management Experts in San Francisco, and two instructional videos about pruning available at www.powerlearning21.com in the home and garden section. Visit her blog at www.treelearning.blogspot.com.

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Christopher Shein

Wild Heart Gardens

Teaches:
Permaculture

Christopher Shein has been a Permaculture designer and gardener in the East Bay since 1993, starting many gardens for schools, homeless centers, backyards, and community gardens. He’s been teaching at Merritt’s LH Dept. (look for Permaculture Design, LH 028) for 7 years. He’s now self-employed with Wildheart Gardens (see www.wildheartgardens.com) with some current projects in Oakland including a homeless senior edible and native garden and a Native American women’s drug recovery edible and native garden. A question I am often asked is, what is Ecological Gardening and why should I care? Our planet is in ecological crisis with global warming and resources running out. What are you going to do when the era of cheap oil is over? Can your garden withstand next year’s big drought? What if there was an earthquake and there was no food from the grocery store? See some positive, eco-friendly gardening you can do to help your family, friends and community.

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Stewart Winchester

Teaches:
Plant ID
Plant Terminology
Taxonomy
Natural Landscape Interpretation

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Staff