Project Team

Renee Byrd 
Landscape Design Consultant

Renee’s interest in design and nature began at a very young age in central Alabama, where she spent countless hours building forts in the woods behind her home. Her parents’ careers in landscape design and residential custom home construction inspired Renee to pursue a future that would similarly combine the fields of art, science, and design. She earned a B.S in Horticulture with a minor in Urban Forestry from Clemson University while running cross country and track for the Tigers, and continued her education at Clemson for a M.S. in Plant and Environmental Science, with a focus on sustainable landscape design. Renee then worked as a research associate at Clemson, teaching landscape design classes and working with the Cliffs Communities to design a public botanical garden for one of their properties. For the past 10 years, she has run her own business, Byrd Landscape Design, and now works full time designing residential landscapes and chasing her highly energetic three year old daughter through the fields behind their home in Pickens, SC. She looks forward to sharing her appreciation of the nature and background in art, landscape design, and construction with students from many disciplines at Clemson University.

Jeff Baker 
Supervisor, Center Campus, 
Landscape Services Department

Jeff Baker grew up in Pickens, South Carolina where he was introduced to landscapes and natural spaces through family activities like gardening, hiking, and hunting. He spent time in his mother’s and aunt’s home gardens, where he was first introduced to the idea of landscaping as the marriage between art and science. Baker began his career in landscaping by working for the Cliffs Valley Golf Club while attending classes at Tri-County Technical College. Seeing an opening in the landscaping staff at Clemson and wanting to work for the state, Baker joined the Clemson family and has been working here for over 20 years. Besides leading his landscaping crew on campus, Baker also assists in many educational endeavors in the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences. He leads discovery tours for HORT 1010, sustainability tours of campus, and educational visits to the Lee-3 green roof. For the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden, Baker supports students through professional guidance and also assists in many maintenance tasks such as hauling debris to the compost facility, weed eradication, providing mulch, and graciously supplementing maintenance during the summer months when students are less available to participate in garden work. He is most proud of his work on the Lee-3 green roof, as well as the annual flowerbed in front of the Thomas Green Clemson statue. He appreciates that the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden offers hands-on learning and field experience for students of all majors interested in landscaping and sustainability.

*Interview/bio by Carson Colenbaugh 2021

Shannon Barrett 
Design Instructor/MLA

Shannon Barrett grew up in Alabama, where she first learned to love and appreciate the beauty of natural places. She spent plenty of time outside exploring and socializing with neighbors and friends. It was here that she made her first landscape design, as she took over the planning of the vegetable garden at her first house. Later, she attended Middle Tennessee State University and graduated with a B.S. in Anthropology. Wanting to apply her interest in sociocultural interaction and her love for outdoor spaces, she attended graduate school at the University of Georgia to earn her Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) with a certification in historic preservation. In the workforce, Shannon has contributed to the private sector working with public clients, and her current position as Landscape Architect at the South Carolina Botanical Garden has given her experience in the public sector. She is also an instructor for Sustainable Landscape Garden Design studio/lab courses (HORT 3090 and HORT 4610) in the Horticulture program. She appreciates the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden as a uniquely diverse area on campus, as it is the only condensed garden space on campus with such a wide variety of plants. She also loves that it is a learning tool for students, faculty, staff, and visitors alike.

*Interview/bio by Carson Colenbaugh 2020

Tommy Fallaw 
Director of Landscape Services/University Facilities

Mr. Tommy Fallaw grew up in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina. At an early age, his grandmother on his father’s side instilled into him the importance of planting things to provide food, aesthetic beauty and shade. They had a two-acre vegetable garden, a pecan orchard, and majestic oak trees growing on the farm that he grew up on. All of this gave him a desire to pursue a career path that would allow him to enjoy the outdoors and the plants and trees that make it so special. He graduated from Clemson University with a BS in Horticulture. He worked in the private sector after college, installing both commercial and residential landscapes. He then worked for the S.C. Budget and Control Board for close to five years supervising three crews that maintained the landscapes of the state-owned buildings in the Columbia, SC area. In his next position, he was hired as the Landscape Manager for the University of South Carolina’s Columbia campus. Currently, he is the Director of Landscaping Services for Clemson University Facilities. He lives with his wife Beth, and daughter Kirkley. His future plans include completing his career working for Clemson University, and he thinks it is really special that Clemson University provided him the education that has allowed him to return to it and be responsible for taking care of its beautiful campus.

*Interview/bio by Eric Thorogood 2021

Karen Hall
Native Plant Advisor / Consultant

Karen Hall grew up on 50 acres in the mountains of North Carolina. In this land that once belonged to Cherokee people, her grandmother tossed her outside to play and this was the impetus for a career tied to nature and culture. Karen earned her B.S. in Biology from Western Carolina University, M.S. in Botany and Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from Clemson University. Her dissertation work with Cherokee people focused on learning about their use of plants as medicine so that they might continue that aspect of traditional identity. Currently, Karen serves as the Director for the SC Master Naturalist program and state coordinator of the SC Master Gardener programs. She hopes her background will infuse inspiration from nature, joy, fun and little research-based thinking into both programs.

Adrienne Gerus
Client / Landscape Services Director

Adrienne grew up outside of Philadelphia and Erie, PA where she and her brother spent most of their childhood free time exploring neighboring woods and streams. She has been fascinated by plants and animals for as long as she can remember and caused her to pick a career in horticulture. Adrienne earned her B.S. in Agriculture from University of Kentucky and her Master of Agriculture (MAg) from Clemson University. She first worked for Greenville Technical College as a Landscape Superintendent and then moved to Landscape Superintendent and then Director of Landscape Services for Clemson (the first woman to ever hold that job!). She was environmental long before it was fashionable. Reducing inputs of water, fertilizer, pesticides, and maintenance have always been high on her agenda. She strives for a balance between natural and enhanced landscapes in Clemson’s park-like setting. What excites her about this job is seeing dirt patches transformed into lush gardens and seeing saplings turn into majestic trees. She is thankful for all of the learning opportunities that present themselves in her position and she is still learning from the good people she works with daily.

Cory Tanner
Horticulture Extension Agent

Cory is a horticulture extension agent for Greenville, Pickens, Oconee and Anderson Counties and Master Gardener coordinator for Greenville County. His responsibilities include assisting nursery growers and landscapers with their production and maintenance needs by providing educational programs and consultation services, managing the Master Gardener volunteer training program, providing home gardening advice, and writing horticultural columns and fact sheets. A life-long gardener, Cory earned a B.S. and an M.S. in horticulture from Clemson University. Prior to employment with Clemson Extension, he worked in the nursery trade, producing quality landscape trees and shrubs for Ray Bracken Nursery, Inc. Cory continues to garden in Easley, where he lives with his wife, Stephanie.

Ellen Vincent 
Project Leader / Sustainable Landscape Instructor

Ellen grew up in the beautiful Hudson River Valley of New York State where she was immersed in art, architecture, and agriculture. Ellen earned her B.A. in American Culture from SUNY New Paltz, M.S. in Agriculture/Horticulture from Northwest Missouri State, and her Ph.D. in Environmental Design and Planning from Clemson University. Her dissertation work examined the therapeutic benefits of nature on health. Currently, Ellen serves as Environmental Landscape Specialist for extension in SC and teaches HORT 3080 Sustainable Landscape Garden Design; HORT 3090 Drawing laboratory; and HORT 4610 Advanced Landscape Design and other classes for the department of environmental horticulture at Clemson University.

Sarah White 
Plant & Water Quality Advisor/Consultant

Sarah grew up on 60 acres in the foothills of South Carolina, where she first experienced and enjoyed the flowers, forests and streams that she now works to enhance and protect. Sarah earned her B.S. in Horticulture from Clemson University, M.S. in Horticultural Science from Virginia Tech, and her Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from Clemson University. Her dissertation work assessed the use of constructed wetlands to cleanse nutrient contaminants from agricultural runoff. Sarah serves as the Nursery Extension Specialist for SC and her extension programs focus on utilizing ecologically based systems (constructed wetlands, floating wetlands, vegetated riparian buffers, rain gardens, etc.) to cleanse agricultural and stormwater runoff. She hopes to promote harnessing “plant power” to provide solutions for cleansing water for a healthy environment.

Whitney Blue Fraser 
Garden Design

Whitney Blue is a senior in the Horticulture program at Clemson University. She discovered her love for plants in her high school AP Biology course her senior year where she learned binomial nomenclature and classification of common plants. She loved working on the design of the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden with Suzie Lombardo; they had a similar vision and played off each other very well. The incorporation of native plants was important to them, they wanted a sustainable garden that included plants already adapted to the area. Whitney Blue and Suzie also wanted year round interest so they included varieties of blooms, textures, colors and foliage in order to achieve that goal. Whitney Blue hopes to continue working with small-scale landscape design after her graduation in May of 2013.

Allison Kelly 
Garden Design / Installation

Allison Kelly is a horticulture major at Clemson University. Allison first became interested in horticulture through the master gardener program in Virginia. She would help neighbors and friends with their gardens while also designing and maintaining her own. Allison helped with the installation process in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden on Clemson campus and she said that her favorite part was the passersby who stopped and asked questions about plants. She was able to educate them on what was happening within the garden. Allison was previously a music teacher so she enjoys the educational aspects of the garden because education is her “comfort zone”. Along with music Allison also enjoys spending time with her family and taking care of her organic vegetable garden at home. Allison is not exactly sure what she wants to do with her future horticulture degree when she graduates but she is looking into landscape design or maybe working in the Botanical Garden where she can work with the plants and also educate others on sustainability and organics.

Suzie Lombardo 
Garden Design

Suzie Lombardo graduated from Clemson University in December 2011 with a bachelor’s of science in Horticulture. She owns a floral design company called Statice which she started during her college career at Clemson. She now lives and does business in Greenville SC and hopes to continue expanding her business in the upstate area.

Tip Reburn 
Garden Design

Tip Reburn is a forestry and horticulture student in Clemson’s College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to study in college but suggests, something pulled him towards that path, perhaps because he liked sticks so much as a boy, or perhaps because he knew nothing about forestry and plants and I wanted to endeavor to learn something new. Basically, it was a wild risk that turned out very well. He is co-chairman of Clemson’s Forestry Conclave team, a runner, a summer camp counselor of six years, plays the trumpet with gusto, writes poetry and stories, and likes to wander around in the woods without shoes on his feet

Chloe Aiello

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2022

Chloe grew up in an American-Italian household where there was a big emphasis on the beauty of garden interactions.She learned early on that the love and care you show plants will be given right back through fruits, veggies, and ornamental value. When she and her family weren’t admiring their own garden, they would walk around botanical gardens and try to paint the beauty they saw.

In the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden, Chloe enjoyed weeding around the plants and making sure the soil was correctly covered with mulch. This way the plants had a good home before being pruned. There was an emphasis on keeping the area clean and clear so onlookers could fully appreciate the garden.

When the vibrant yellow Swamp Sunflowers shown through the previously dull background of the garden, she knew she was in the right place. She felt as though her work was helping others see the benefits and visual appeal of sustainable landscaping.

This same semester, Chloe was lucky enough to work in another CI where she learned more about tissue culture. She found this extremely interesting and intends to pursue additional tissue cultures or plant genetics in the future.

Emily Allen

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2021

My name is Emily Allen, and I am a horticulture major from Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. I have a passion for plants beginning when I was old enough to hold a pot. I would help my grandmother in her flower beds, finding joy in watering the plants and watching them bloom. Growing up with a vegetable garden every summer and participating in composting programs in my public school, I knew horticulture was the path for me. Since enrolling at Clemson University, my passion has only deepened as I learn more about being a good steward of the environment and how to give back to my community through landscape design. In the Clemson University Sustainable Demonstration Garden, I participated in correctly identifying and removing weeds, spreading mulch to benefit plant growth and detailing signs and edges of the garden through manicuring practices and clean up. I also monitored the seasonal development of the plants through the fall time, carefully monitoring the success of the plantings. My favorite takeaway from this experience would definitely be the positive remarks I received from the passersby of Clemson students and faculty. Unanimously, the garden had a positive effect on viewers, explaining that they were grateful for the effort put into maintaining the gardens and how it benefited their wellbeing. With plans to graduate in Spring of 2022, I am looking forward to working at a botanical garden as horticulturist. In the future, I plan on continuing my work in horticulture through garden maintenance, landscape design and community engagement in the field.

Ryan Anderson

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2018

Ryan Is a senior Turfgrass Management major from Richmond, Virginia. He developed an interest in plants at a young age when he would always want to help his parents with yardwork. His main tasks in the garden include weeding, pruning, and making sure the plants stay watered. Ryan’s favorite part about working in the garden is when he sees people enjoying the garden as they walk past. His future plans are to become a head groundskeeper in Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, or for a college athletics program.

Alexis Anthony

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2018

Alexis Anthony is a Horticulture major from Fort Mill, South Carolina. She first developed her love of plants when she was playing around her grandparent’s garden as a little girl. Her passion for gardening was translated through her work in the garden during every task she accomplished. From weeding to cutting back expired plant material, Alexis accomplished the tasks with a smile on her face. The aspect of this project that brought her the most joy was getting to educate the public on the important of sustainable garden practices. Alexis plans to continue working with plants at Augusta National.

Bari Arden Arant

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2024

Bari Arden Arant grew up in St. Matthews, SC and transferred into Clemson to further her education in Agribusiness. She spent many of her childhood days exploring the great outdoors such as building forts, hunting, fishing, and much more. She has spent more than a few years as a camper/counselor at Camp Wildwood which is put together by DNR where she learned how important forestry, wildlife, and fisheries are for the environment. Her interests spiked while working with Crop Companions, INC. in Cameron, SC over the summer while her job was to scout peanuts for farmers. The hands-on experiences helped her learn quickly which led her to join the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden to further her knowledge in plant upkeep using sustainable practices. Her tasks in the garden consisted of mulching, pruning, and weeding. She focused on mulching after weeding because she realized it kept the weeds controlled and slowed their spreading across the garden. Once Bari Arden graduates, she plans to move back home and work for Crop Companions, INC. to further her knowledge and reach her goal of becoming a Agriculture Sales Representative or Agriculture Extension Agent.

Hannah Arbogast

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2022

Hannah Arbogast is a Horticulture major at Clemson University. She was born in Ohio, but grew up in Lexington, South Carolina. After 8 ½ years of service in the military as a firefighter/medical first responder, Hannah majored in Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon with plans to pursue a career in conservation. During a summer internship at an organic farm, Hannah found the therapeutic benefit of growing plants, and in particular food crops. Since transferring to Clemson University, she has developed an interest in urban farming and public green spaces. Her tasks while working in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden included general maintenance like weeding, mulching, and pruning, as well as monitoring educational factors like proper signage and accessibility. Her biggest take away has been in gaining a better understanding of sustainable garden spaces and the educational opportunity they provide. She is now focused on completing her degree and hopes to support local community led gardens and urban farms.

Marie Aull

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2023

Marie is a senior Horticulture major from Cameron, SC. Growing up she was always around flowers, row crops, and different kinds of grasses because of her family-owned businesses: Dothan Trees, a wholesale tree nursery; and Bozard Turfgrass. She also worked for Hi Cotton Greenhouses in St. Matthews. All these businesses helped her grow a love for horticulture. In the Sustainable Garden, Marie’s tasks consisted of weeding, mulching, pruning, and making sure the area was neat and clean. Marie also conducted surveys in the Sustainable Garden. The Sustainable Garden taught Marie how important it is to mulch right after you weed to keep the weeds under control, the importance of understanding other people’s preferences, the importance of working with a team, and how to coordinate with other people. One of the best things that happened to her during her time in the garden was when she had pruned a bunch of the plants back and they later came back even more beautiful. That was when she realized she made the right decision to prune them back. After Marie graduates in August, she plans to move back home and work with Hi Cotton Greenhouses as their assistant manager/grower and maybe one day be able to start her own greenhouse business.

Zay Barton

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007, Spring 2022, Spring 2023

Zay is a Horticulture major from Columbia, SC. Zay notes his early interest in plants dates back to his preadolescent childhood days playing in the forests and the rest of nature’s environments available in the southeast. He experienced curiosity regarding each and every plant that entered his field of vision. With the discovery of home gardening as an adolescent, his appreciation and curiosity multiplied one-hundred-fold. He credits his love for nature and all things plants to both of his grandfathers. One being from the low-country American South, and the other coming from the countryside of Jamaica. As a Sustainable Garden maintenance team member, Zay’s responsibilities included cutbacks/pruning, pulling up weeds, re-mulching disturbed/eroded areas, and keeping the area neat and free of trash. Zay describes a major takeaway as gaining the much-needed experience for better learning to manage his time. In terms of his future, Zay plans to evolve and expand his own business of growing and selling his own herbs and herbal supplements as a means to heal the people through alternative medicine, Using herbal education he also plans to continue to teach kids about plants and planting in the near and far future.

Jack Bergeron

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2016

Jack is a sophomore in the Horticulture program with a business minor at Clemson University. He is from Old Saybrook, Connecticut. He helped his father set up a large vegetable and herb garden in the back of his family property when he was very young. This sparked his initial interest in Horticulture and gardens. His love for plants and the outdoors only grew from there. His favorite part about working in the Sustainable Garden was interacting with the students and faculty passing by. He loved explaining why they were working in the garden, and teaching them about some of the native plants if they were so interested. Another of his favorite parts about the garden work was seeing the changes the plants and landscape go through from fall to winter to spring. One of his favorite pastimes involves being out on the water fishing, wakeboarding or just boating around. He also enjoys hiking, camping, and traveling to new places. After graduating from Clemson University Jack plans to get involved with holistic medicine and travel the world.

Zac Berry

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2022

Zac Berry, from Saluda, South Carolina, is a senior agribusiness major with a minor in turfgrass. He was introduced to turfgrass while working at Golden Hills Golf and Country Club over numerous summers. This experience influenced his college decisions. Zac spent many hours tending the Sustainable Garden, including weeding, mulching, watering, and pruning. He mentions that he valued informing others the most by talking to them while in the garden and ensuring the signage was adequately placed. The garden was enjoyable to work in, and as he finishes his college career, he will pursue his career working with Golden Hills.

Patrick Blakely

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_006 Spring 2013

Patrick is a senior forestry major at Clemson University. Patrick first became interested in nature through time spent outdoors as a child. Patrick and his father went fishing often and sometimes they would explore the surrounding woods. Patrick enjoyed exploring and observing nature and trees. Patrick helped with the maintenance part of the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden on the Clemson campus along with being in charge or surveying students about their opinions on the garden. Patrick’s favorite part about working in the garden was seeing everything return after it dies back in the winter. Patrick enjoys being outdoors whether it is hiking, backpacking, or fishing; he likes being immersed in nature so he can simply observe. Patrick hopes to start a career with a timber management organization, private not federal, after his graduation in May 2013.

Samantha Bost

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2023

Samantha (Sam) is an undergraduate Landscape Architecture student from Charleston. Her interest in gardens and landscapes came about when she was learning about the history of the Landscape Architecture profession and garden/landscape design. As she learned more about the history of different types of gardens and landscapes she began to understand the power that they have. Gardens and landscapes have existed since the very first civilizations and are extremely vital to the character and integrity of communities.

While working in the garden Sam got first-hand experience of how a landscape can function to promote community interaction and connection just based on the number of people who stopped to ask questions and make comments about the work she was doing. Whether it was pulling weeds, trimming back perennials, or spreading mulch, she got asked about what she was working on and how other people could become involved in the CI program as well.

When she was getting asked these questions and had these key interactions, that was when she realized the power that gardens and landscapes can have and how vital they are to communities. She was personally benefiting physically and mentally from performing the work duties in the garden, and she saw how the people who walked by or used the space benefitted from a mental health aspect.

In the future, she hopes to design landscapes that have that same kind of power and promote healthy communities for people and the environment.

Leila Bowen

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2024

Leila is from Abbeville, South Carolina and is double majoring in Agricultural Education and Horticulture. She grew up loving the outdoors, and she always found herself drawn to any flowers that were nearby. The contrasting colors they brought to a landscape or garden space were always something that she appreciated and admired throughout her life. In the Sustainable Garden Leila was tasked with weeding, mulching, irrigating, cutting back broken or dead stems, and educating those who passed by. All of these jobs ensured a garden that was thriving through sustainable practices. Throughout this experience she found joy in the quietness of the work. Being able to take a break from other schoolwork and spend time in nature was something she looked forward to on a weekly basis. Overall, the hands-on experience has taught her about the importance of native plants and the impact nature has on the lives of those who embrace it. In the future she plans to attend graduate school and is currently looking into different programs within the agricultural field to find the best fit for her interests.

Reese Bryant

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2020

Reese first developed an interest in gardens at a young age. She was always playing in the dirt, smelling the flowers, drawing the plants around her, and used nature as a safe space. Her tasks in the Sustainable Garden included pruning, weeding, mulching, and educating anyone that had a question about the garden. Reese found great value in learning the native plants that grow in the Sustainable Garden and will use that knowledge in her own garden and future gardens. Reese hopes to pursue work in public gardens and expanding her sustainable design knowledge after graduation.

Claire Bunes

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2019

My name is Claire Bunes, I am a Horticulture major in my final semester at Clemson and originally from Greenville, South Carolina. My interest in gardening began with my grandmothers, both of whom come from farming backgrounds and are very knowledgeable about plants despite having no technical or academic training in plant related fields. Paying attention to plants and growing a garden seemed like second nature to my grandmothers that they easily passed the love along to me as a child. My inspiration for growing food and ornamentals continued to grow while working in a community garden that I shared with my neighbors after moving to Connecticut, and further once I realized the high school in my new hometown offered a horticulture class. Still, I didn’t realize horticulture was a potential field of study until I was almost halfway through a degree in Anthropology and read about traditional farming practices used by Aztec civilizations. These cropping systems that I drew inspiration from involved chinampas which are raised beds built in floodplains out of dredged organic material from canal basins, and polycultural plantings using the three sisters: maize, beans/legumes, and squash.

I began work in the Sustainable Garden during the late summer months when the days were long, hot, and dry. Most of my tasks revolved around watering, pulling weeds, deadheading, and pruning back damaged plants. As the maintenance needs waned, I started focusing more of my time in the garden surveying passersby and talking with visitors about their experiences and perception of the space. This became about as educational as the hands-on gardening tasks because I learned what kinds of features stand out to people on campus, and what they are looking for in a landscape. Several conversations with those passing through the Sustainable Garden pointed to a curiosity about our goals and an interest in learning more about the environment surrounding us. This opportunity to interact with garden guests motivates me to continue considering landscapes everywhere I go, and to make mental notes about the features people appreciate most.

Following my graduation this month my new job will give me the opportunity to continue cultivating plants in tissue culture propagation. I’m excited to continue growing in this industry and exploring the diverse facets that the world of horticulture has to offer.

Jarett Burgos

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2022

Jarett is a senior Horticulture major from Buford, GA. He first developed interest in the landscape and plants when he was young helping his dad every summer after football practice in their family owned landscape business. After gaining hands-on experience and see all the things that could be accomplished, he decided that it was time to step up and take control of the business. He transferred over to Clemson to study Horticulture and gain a deeper understanding on plants and the landscape. His tasks in the Sustainable Garden included weeding, mulching, and pruning. Each day it was a unique experience at the garden but the most that he takes away from this garden is the importance of native plants and the effect it has on the wildlife. Jarett plans to continue his education after graduation by pursing a Master’s in Landscape Architecture. He also plans on continuing to grow his family’s business and continue to grow his own Ornamental and Turf Pest Control business which he started two years ago.

Will Burgin

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2024

Will is a senior from Irmo, South Carolina and an Agricultural Mechanization and Business major. Will has always had a love and passion for the outdoors and landscape. It began with him being raised on family-owned property where he helped maintain and grow crops and plants for the purpose of deer attraction. Following this passion, Will decided to gain landscape experience by working for a commercial landscape company in Irmo, South Carolina for three summers. After learning and experiencing the field of landscape, he decided that it was the career path for him. Will worked in the Sustainable Landscape Garden in the fall of 2024. During this transition from warm weather months to cold months, Will assisted in the maintenance of the garden primarily by watering, weeding, deadheading, and survey collecting. Some of the most valuable experiences he gained from the garden was talking to the people passing by about the purpose of the garden and hearing how it could be better. Following graduation, Will plans to continue his passion working in commercial landscape and eventually begin his own company.

Jackson Burke

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2018

Jackson is majoring in Landscape Architecture, grew up in Irmo, South Carolina and has been around the outdoors his entire life. Growing up around the rivers and mountains, he has always had an interest in plants and the landscape. Jackson weeded, trimmed, and conducted surveys around the Sustainable Garden for spring semester 2018. The most valuable thing he learned was the many applications that native plants are great for. Jackson plans on using this new knowledge of sustainable plant systems as he continues through his career in Landscape Architecture.

Ashley Campbell

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080-007 Fall 2018

Ashley Campbell grew up on 140 acres of land in Sharon, South Carolina. This land was used to grow corn, clover, sorghum, apple trees, peach trees, blackberries, blueberries, and many other fruits and vegetables. The purpose of managing the land was to bring in wildlife to give animals and insects a place to call home. Ashley helped her father manage the land while growing up and she learned a lot about farming from the hands-on experience. Ashley earned her Associate Degree in Science from Tri-County Technical College, B.S in Agribusiness from Clemson University, and a minor in Horticulture from Clemson University. Ashley’s tasks in the sustainability garden were to keep the garden maintained by pruning plants, deadheading plants, mulching the soil, and pulling weeds. Ashley first found joy in working in the sustainability garden when she got approached by a professor in the Natural Resource department who thanked her for her work in the garden and he said, “I wish other areas on campus did something like this. This is awesome, what you do.” Ashley’s plans in the future are to own her own nursery and produce stand or store, in a town that has little to nowhere to shop for plants or produce that would be beneficial to the community.

Ashley Canaday

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2023

Ashley is a Horticulture major born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. She acquired an appreciation for plants when she was a small kid and “owned” a Mud Pie Shop where she used various plant leaves and twigs to decorate her mud pies. In the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden, Ashley enjoyed pruning, weeding, mulching, and tending to identification signs, assuring the garden was nice and tidy. As autumn crept around the corner of the garden, the Pink Muhly Grass put out its immaculate display of vibrant pink flowers, and Ashley was in awe. Continuing to be up close with it in the garden, Pink Muhly Grass immediately became one of her favorite plants, a subject in many academic projects thereon. Following graduation, Ashley will seek her Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture, wishing to learn more about implementing design while remaining sensitive to environmental and cultural issues.

Collin Carbonero

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080-007 Fall 2022

Collin Carbonero grew up in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina and found his love for the natural world at a young age. His interest in gardening first began in his mother’s giant garden His sister and he would work and play in it. Since then, Collin has enjoyed gardening ever since and continues his love for the outdoors through biking, hiking, hunting, and fishing. Collin’s passions lead him to pursue a major in Agricultural Business with a double minor in Horticulture and Agricultural Mechanization. Tasks in the Sustainable Garden included weeding, mulching, trimming back certain plants, and watering. Weeding and mulching needed to be done weekly while watering only needed to be done as needed. The students had to pay attention to the weather for the week to decide on an optimal day to water. The moment Collin knew this class had personally impacted him when he began interviewing people and saw the well-being it brought to others. For the past 3 years Collin has worked in the Cannabis industry, 2 years in commercial hemp and 1 year of commercial medical Cannabis. He plans on further developing his skillset to provide people with the best quality product for their recreational and medicinal needs.

Guy Castles

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_006 Spring 2014

Guy is a Horticulture student minoring in Business Management at Clemson University. He is from Columbia, South Carolina. Some of his hobbies include hunting, fishing, and other outdoor related activities. He first became interested in Horticulture when he started working on a piece of family property in 2008. From there he worked three years on a Forest Lake Club golf course, one summer for Hay Hill Services (a landscaping company), and he has been working for over a year at the South Carolina Botanical Garden. He does this work with a future goal of perhaps owning his own landscaping business.

Jonathan Chaney

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2017, Fall 2019

Jonathan Chaney is a horticulture major. He grew up on the coast of California on a wholesale nursery owned by his dad. Jonathan grew up around plants and started working with them when he was very young. In the Sustainable Garden Jonathan helped with the maintenance and research part of the landscape. He started out by pulling weeds and laying down mulch and moved into to having one-on-one interactions with people while conducting surveys on the effects of the landscape on people’s thoughts and feelings. Maintaining this garden helped him realize just how much work goes into proper garden maintenance and gave him a new respect for landscapers. Jonathan’s favorite part about maintaining the garden was being able to watch all the work put into the garden have a positive effect based on by-passers comments. After Jonathan graduates, he plans on going back home to work with his dad on their wholesale nursery.

Pre Choate

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2021, Spring 2022

Pre is a senior Horticulture major originally from Clyde, North Carolina. He first developed his interest in plants at a young age hiking through native Appalachian forests with his father and grandfather learning the names and identification of trees. Pre and his fellow garden team members irrigated, pruned, weeded, and mulched weekly to ensure a healthy and aesthetically pleasing environment while implementing sustainable practices. This experience has allowed him to really appreciate how much a landscape can offer to not only himself but to the public and the environment, including providing a sense of calm and promoting healthy and productive relationships between native flora and fauna. It’s allowed him to observe and be grounded by the natural life cycles of plants and the relationships formed between various organisms such as pollinators. In the future, Pre plans on expanding his experience into controlled environmental agriculture due to increasing water scarcity and reduction of arable land and hopefully bring sustainable practices to the evolving field.

Taylor Clark

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2017

Taylor is a senior horticulture major at Clemson University from Mt. Pleasant, SC. Her first interest in horticulture begin when with planting a home garden with her mom. Taylor’s favorite part of working in the Sustainable Garden is seeing the smiles on people’s faces as they walk by the garden and look at all the native plants. Her favorite activities include going to the beach, learning more about plants and exploring new wines. She has a passion for viticulture and hopes to open her own vineyard in the North Carolina Mountains.

Elizabeth Clarkin

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_006 Spring 2013

Elizabeth is a senior architecture major and a horticulture minor at Clemson University. Elizabeth first became interested in architecture while traveling; she was fascinated by the buildings and how they differed in color, material, and size depending on location. Her interest in nature peaked while taking Horticulture 101, when she walked through the greenhouses and learned about the broad variety and diversity the field of horticulture has to offer. Elizabeth helped with the maintenance part of the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden on the Clemson campus along with communications by conducting student interviews for the Website. Elizabeth’s favorite part of being in the garden was working outside, she works mostly inside during the week due to her class schedule so just being outside pruning the plants was a very enjoyable experience for her. She liked learning from the plants; this was one of her first experiences with actual garden maintenance. Elizabeth enjoys playing outdoor sports whether it is tennis, running, or swimming in the ocean as she likes to stay active. Elizabeth hopes to get an internship or job with a landscape design firm before moving on to graduate school when she graduates in May 2013.

Corbin Clemons

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2018

I am a Senior Landscape Architecture Major with a minor in Horticulture from North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Growing up I have always been intrigued with nature, design, and plants which is why I decided go into the Landscape Architecture field as I felt that it connected those three elements. When first starting my degree here at Clemson, I wanted to design spaces, but I also wanted to know more about the plants that I would be putting into those spaces, which is what led me to seek out a Horticulture minor. While taking Horticulture classes, sustainable development was always something that stood out to me and was something I felt that I could never know enough about which is why I decided to become a part of the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden. Through this experience, working independently and with a few other team members, I have had a hands-on experience in the landscape and felt so enriched with information by just connecting myself physically in the garden. Also, I was able to see what I could do personally while working in the garden to make it better through conducting surveys of people on campus by asking them the strengths and weaknesses of the garden. Not only has this experience showed me what native plants work best in a sustainable landscape, it has also given me intel on how I could incorporate sustainability in my future work as a Landscape Architect and for that, I am thankful for this wonderful experience.

Kendall Cochran

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_006 Spring 2012

Kendall is a senior in horticulture and started working at the SC Botanical Garden as a temporary worker the summer before he started college. The following fall he entered Tricounty Technical College as an Electrical Engineering major but after that one summer at the Botanical Garden he knew he wanted to work outdoors. Kendall entered Clemson University as horticulture major and has worked at the Botanical Garden for six years. He appreciates the variety and challenges that exist at the Botanical Garden. The landscape changes every day and seeing the positive results of his work is rewarding. Kendall has learned a lot from working on this native garden and enjoyed seeing every step. He hopes to see this garden grow and benefit the landscape for many years to come.

Hannah Grace Coker

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2022

Hannah Grace is a senior architecture major with a double minor in sustainability and women’s studies, and is from Charleston, South Carolina. She first developed an interest in gardens, landscapes, and plants when she was young while helping her grandfather tend to his plants. She was a very curious child and bothered him with questions about plant type, how to care for them, varieties, and such. Hannah Grace helped other students maintain the Sustainable Garden by weeding, pruning, and mulching. She enjoyed maintaining the garden as it provided an escape from other schoolwork and gave her an excuse to spend more time outdoors. Hannah Grace intends to incorporate what she has learned from the Sustainable Garden into her current and future architecture projects. After Hannah Grace graduates, she plans on working in Charlotte, North Carolina for a few years before returning to Clemson to pursue her master’s in Architecture + Health.

Carson Colenbaugh

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021

Carson Colenbaugh is a horticulture student with a double minor in Forest Resource Management and Biological Sciences from Kennesaw, Georgia. He first developed an interest in horticulture when he volunteered with his grandmother at Brookgreen Gardens in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. There, they assisted the horticultural staff with the installation of new garden features and the general upkeep of the gardens. In the Sustainable Garden, Carson could be found mulching, weeding, and getting his arms cut up while trimming back the white muhly grass between classes. Moving forward, he now has experience in the work it takes to maintain an ornamental landscape installation, though the unique goals of the Sustainable Garden also gave him a wonderful introduction to educational engagement, sustainable practices, and the social interactions of an urban garden. He plans to use the fundamental knowledge that he gained at the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden in the future as he pursues a graduate degree in the natural resource sciences, where he will continue researching the interactions between people and their local environments.

Travis W. Cooley

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2024

Travis Cooley is a senior Agribusiness major, with two minors, Psychology and Natural Resource Economics. Growing up in the small town of Apex, NC, he found himself spending most of his time outside, finding different things to do in nature. His mom was always planting new flowers around the house, and his father planted a seasonal vegetable garden each year, so he was able to get involved with maintaining those plants from a young age. In the Spring semester of 2024, Travis helped conduct surveys, spread mulch, weed, and trim plants in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden. His biggest take away from the class was seeing how many people were fond of the garden and enjoyed the view while walking through to class. He found that though the garden was a rather small part of campus, keeping it maintained and retaining its beauty did affect people’s emotions. As he finishes up his degree this next fall, Travis hopes to be able to stay local in state and take on a career in agricultural sales.

Mike Crider

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2018

Mike is a senior architecture major and horticulture minor at Clemson University. He grew up playing outside whether it was in the woods behind his house or soccer with his friends in Germantown, Maryland. Mike became interested in gardens when he helped his mom plant and take care of the flowers and bushes around his house back in Maryland. With Mike’s background in architecture and design, he was very interested in the sustainable garden and how it could benefit not only the surrounding architecture but the people who walk through it on a regular basis. Mike now tries to design buildings with the landscape in mind, by integrating the outdoors into his designs whenever possible. He benefited and appreciated how multiple disciplines got to work and learn together when taking care of the garden. Mike plans to graduate in the spring of 2018 and stay in the Greenville area to pursue a career as an architect or landscape architect. He plans to go back to graduate school when the time is left to pursue a masters in architecture.

Andrew Crawford

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2019

Andrew is a sophomore from Mount Pleasant, SC majoring in Clemson’s horticulture program. Growing up he always expressed interest in plants by growing food crops and flowers around his home. In high school he went through the horticulture program with all of his teachers being Clemson horticulture graduates, who greatly influenced and interested him in the field. In the Sustainable Garden, Andrew’s tasks consist of weeding, mulching, pruning, and keeping the area neat and clean. He also gathered surveys from people passing by the garden to document how it can affect and influence others. The Sustainable Garden taught him the importance of pruning large plants as well as mulching an area as a low maintenance tactic to keep weeds under control. After graduation he plans to move to Beaufort and work as a landscape architect or get into the industrial hemp industry that has recently taken off.

Ben Cutlip

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2021

Ben is an agricultural business major minoring in horticultural. He grew up in Blythewood South Carolina, a suburb of Columbia. His interest in gardening first sparked when each year his family would have a garden large enough to provide vegetables throughout the winter. Ben’s tasks in the garden mostly included pulling weeds and removing dead plant material. He would also water the entire garden at least once a week. Trimming and shaping bushes and plants was also done by Ben frequently. He had his best experiences in the garden when he was freely working, headphones in, just absorbed by the garden around him. He plans start a hemp farm once he graduates.

Vernon Dennis

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2018

Vernon-Edward Dennis is a graduating Horticulture senior at Clemson University from Gadsden, a small town located near Columbia, South Carolina. During his tenure at Clemson, he has been a Resident Assistant, Horticulture Club member, Forestry and Environmental Conservation student worker, Tiger Band manager, and a consistent Creative Inquiry participant. Vernon has had the opportunity to intern for Coastal Bloomers in St. Simons Island, Georgia and The Greenery in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. He is the youngest of four by 13 years and has been ultimately blessed to have lived around family for the majority of his life. Growing up, he worked on his uncle’s farm helping to take care of horses, various other animals, and crop fields. These experiences have left him with a great appreciation and fascination for nature and wildlife. While working in the Clemson University Native Sustainable Garden, his duties consisted of garden maintenance and beautification, research-based surveying, and educating visitors on the overall appearance and functionality of the native plants in the garden as well as their impact on humans, wildlife and the general environment. Vernon has thoroughly enjoyed working in the garden and interacting with passersby. He has gained a greater appreciation for the native plants of South Carolina. After December graduation, Vernon will be working as a Project Manager for Phoenix Landscaping in Columbia, South Carolina.

Casey Dickerson

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2015

Casey is a senior Horticulture major from Iva, South Carolina. In the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden I maintained the plants so that they would be aesthetically pleasing to the eye, while still being good for the wildlife in the area. Also, through the use of in personal reference surveys I conducted research. Working in the garden showed me how native plants can benefit the environment. In the future I plan to pursue a career in either landscaping or nursery production. I hope to one day own my own company in one of these fields and use the knowledge I gained in the garden in my own company.

John Robert Dinkins

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_006 Spring 2014

John is a rising senior Horticulture student at Clemson. Ever since he was small he valued visiting many different types of natural environments in SC and loved seeing things grow in their untouched settings. I’ve enjoyed working in the Clemson Sustainable Garden because of the emphasis that is placed on using native plants and teaching the public about the plants that are all around them. Working in this garden has helped him develop career goals towards garden interpretation and sustainable design. He sees himself using plants to educate and enhance people’s lives whether here in South Carolina or elsewhere after college.

Sarah Doster

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2022

Sarah is an accounting major from Greenville, SC. Her grandparents instilled a love of nature and gardening from an early age. Every summer her mom cares for a small vegetable and herb garden. She spent most of her time in the Sustainable Garden weeding and later some pruning. She valued her time working in the quiet peace of nature. It became more enjoyable as spring arrived in the garden. Her future plans are to pursue a master’s in accounting and become a CPA. She hopes to continue gardening in her free time.

Victoria Eastergard

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2023

Victoria is a horticulture major living in Greer, SC. Growing up in Minnesota, her parents always had vegetable gardens and fruit trees, so eating fresh produce from the backyard was a way of life. Later, Victoria built her own backyard garden so she could teach her sons how much better home-grown tomatoes tasted when compared to store-bought. This love of starting seeds and watching them turn into productive plants ultimately sent Victoria to Clemson to learn the whys behind great growing practices.

Through time spent both in the classroom and in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden, Victoria learned that consistency is key. Whether weeding, watering, pruning, or harvesting, consistent every day work yields big results. Working in the Sustainable Landscape Garden with her fellow students showed her how effective teamwork is at making a garden space tidy and beautiful in a short amount of time.

While Victoria is not sure what direction her life will take upon graduation, she hopes to one day have a small farm of her own where she can grow nutrient-dense food for both herself and others in a way that leaves the land better than when she started.

Mary Featherstone

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2022

is a senior horticulture student from Greenville, South Carolina. She has minors in business administration and biological sciences. Her love of gardening began at a very young age, receiving her first horticultural honor, the Golden Shovel Award, in elementary school for her commitment and involvement in the gardening club. She enrolled in Clemson’s horticulture program after thoroughly enjoying a Plant Identification and Systematics course she took at the South Carolina Botanical Garden during her freshman year. Mary contributed to the upkeep and maintenance of the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden through weekly pruning, weeding, mulching, and troubleshooting of pest problems. Additionally, she conducted surveys, answered questions, and educated passersby on the garden’s mission. Watching individuals enjoy and engage with the garden throughout the semester profoundly impacted Mary’s experience in the space, as those interactions offered a sense of fulfillment in her work. Upon graduating, Mary is interested in further developing her gardening skills in a professional horticulture program. While she isn’t exactly sure where her passion for plants will take her, she has interests in landscape design and garden management.

Abbey Fesler

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2016

Abbey is a Sociology major from Charleston, SC. Abbey was drawn to the Sustainable Garden because it was a creative inquiry and allowed her the opportunity to explore her interests outside of her major/discipline. During her first semester in the garden, she worked in a team with two others and spent three hours in the garden each week. She and her team worked on weeding, applying compost and coarse mulch, dividing perennials, and learning techniques for professional garden maintenance. This semester was her second semester in the garden and she was really grateful to be able to take the course for a second time and to be able to work in the garden again. This semester she had the opportunity to train another student on how the garden works and what maintenance techniques she had learned from Dr. Vincent. Following graduation, Abbey will be working as a Teaching Fellow at Meeting Street Elementary at Brentwood, a Title 1 school in North Charleston, SC. Long-term, she would love to get her master’s in counseling or open a non-profit for under resourced youth in an urban area that specializes in building leadership and giving them skills to take into the real world.

Michael Henry Franks

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2020

Michael Henry Franks is a senior horticulture major from Laurens, SC. He developed an interest in plants and sustainability while deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan with the United States Army. After leaving the Army, Michael decided to pursue an education in horticulture at Piedmont Technical College in Greenwood, SC where he graduated with an Associates in Horticulture Technology in 2018 before transferring to Clemson University’s horticulture program. Working in the garden was unfortunately cut short for Michael and his colleagues after Spring Break 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck America and all coursework was moved online. While the garden tasks such as mulching and pruning were short-lived, the move to online coursework helped show how the Clemson Family can persevere and is prepared for any challenges that they may face. He plans to pursue a career in horticulture and continue to expand his knowledge of plant science.

Alec Freeman

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2024

Alec Freeman is an Agriculture Mechanization and Business major from Branchville, SC. Alec’s love for plants started early and grew strong while growing up in the agriculture and horticulture world. While working in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden, he took on tasks like weeding, mulching, watering, pruning, and cleaning signs. His favorite moment was seeing the cleanliness of a freshly bloomed and pruned garden. This experience taught him about teamwork and the importance of sustainability. In the future, he plans to take up a sales career and start his own business.

Cy Gettliffe

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2019, Spring 2020

Cy Gettliffe is a senior year horticulture major and a Clemson native. His hobbies include backpacking, kayaking, building neo-tropic inspired bioactive vivariums, experimenting with LED plant lighting and hydroponics, and playing with his dogs. He recently changed majors from engineering to horticulture due to his concern for the environment and its sustainability. In the Spring semesters of 2019 and 2020, he worked in the Sustainable Demonstration Garden at Clemson University where his tasks included mulching, weeding, defining boundaries between plants, and surveying people to find ways to improve the gardens aesthetics. Cy surveyed passersby about the garden space and has learned that the garden holds value for people from all walks of life and provides enjoyment and tranquility to many.

Marissa Gigis

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2019

My name is Marissa Gigis and I am a senior landscape architecture major. I’ve lived in Charleston, SC my entire life and I truly believe that’s where my love for design and landscapes took root. Charleston is known for its historic gardens, plantations, and successful downtown. Being within this environment sparked my desire to contribute. Since enrolling in Clemson’s L.A. program, I have interned for two summers at HLA, Inc., a multidisciplinary, commercial firm and most recently, one summer at a high-end residential design firm, Carolina Landscape. These internships provided me hands on experience with install and design; Clemson’s Sustainable Landscape Garden has helped me cultivate these skills even further! Pruning, weeding, mulching, watering, and more helped me gain insight on what it takes to keep a garden beautiful. Being aware of each plants’ needs along with the instant gratification of cutting a plant back were my favorite things about maintaining the garden. I plan to return to Charleston upon receiving my bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture. I hope to continue with residential design work as well as gain my licensure as an official landscape architect.

Kiana Gilchrist

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2016

Kiana is a Senior Agricultural Education major, Horticulture minor from Calhoun Falls, SC. Kiana found her love for plants in her high school FFA program, through assisting in building and maintaining the school greenhouse. After learning about gardening and greenhouses at school, she took her knowledge home with her where she helped her family create a backyard vegetable garden. Kiana helped with the installation, maintenance, and removal of the plants in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden at Clemson. She finds that her favorite part of working with the Sustainable Garden was getting to learn new techniques and being able to take those skills home to use in her container garden. Kiana enjoys bringing people and nature together, and making a positive impact in the lives of others, and because of the sustainable garden, she was able to do these things on a regular basis. After graduation, Kiana hopes to bring her agricultural skills and philanthropic desires overseas to better the lives of those in third world countries by helping to improve the food and fiber systems.

Molly Glaser

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2021

Molly is an Architecture major with a minor in Sustainability from Winthrop, Maine. Her interest in gardening started from a young age at her home in Maine since they grow the majority of their own produce. She has always helped her dad in the garden where they grow all sorts of things from potatoes to hops for homemade beer. Molly’s tasks in the Sustainable Garden ranged from cleaning and straightening signs to weeding and pruning plants around the garden. Her favorite moment in the garden was in late spring when all of the plants she had trimmed around the garden started to bloom! It was a very rewarding experience for her. She is starting a job at an architecture firm in Charlotte, North Carolina following graduation in May. She will focus on designing healthcare buildings and hopefully including landscapes that will heal both mind and body.

Katie Glenn

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2023

Katie Glenn is a Horticulture major and Biology minor from Chester, South Carolina. She first appreciated gardens and landscapes when she was around 5 years old after she helped her family with their vegetable garden and yard work. She weeded, mulched, dead-headed, pruned, and interacted with the public in the Sustainable Garden this fall. Katie gained the most joy from seeing the animals and insects using the garden, especially the flowering plants. She believes the garden demonstrates how creating habitats for small animals is a vital part of maintaining a sustainable campus at Clemson. Katie’s future plans include pursuing a career in horticulture.

Alora Grimes

Garden Maintenance/Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2019, Spring 2020

Alora Grimes a Horticulture major from Greenville, South Carolina. Developed an interest in plants and landscape maintenance when she was young. Her grandmother would always be planting tulips and she had a jungle of house plants on her screened in porch that would always make Alora feel safe and at peace. When she grew up and it was ready to plan for a career she would find herself walking around a nature park every day, and it dawned on her that her destiny was working with plants because they are so interesting and aesthetically pleasing.

Working in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden was such a pleasure because she got to work outside with plants for three hours a week! That is her dream job, so being able to do it for class credits was a lot of fun. She loved working in the dirt and being able to upkeep the look of the plants to make the garden look nice for all the people passing through. Talking to the people passing by was also fun because sometimes they would have questions and she could educate them about what the garden was and how it helps the environment around them. During the spring 2020 course she had to adapt to online learning and giving up working hands-on in the garden, but the course was still just as valuable once moved online. She loved being able to research and tour many different botanical gardens from the comfort of her own home. Also, being able to distinguish differences between the urban garden on campus and large botanical gardens was a great skill to gain.

Her future plan is to graduate Clemson this spring and find a job working in a botanical garden’s nursery. She loves working with plants and educating people about everything they can do for the environment around us. She wants to look for a garden in the South Carolina region first, but eventually she wants to move out to Arizona to learn more about the native plants they have in their deserts.

Emma Hanson

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2021

Emma is an Architecture major with a Sustainability minor from Anderson, South Carolina. She first developed an interest in gardening while helping her parents plant and maintain a small backyard garden they had while she was growing up. Emma’s tasks in the Sustainable Garden consisted of general garden maintenance, such as weeding, mulching, and pruning, and also cleaning and straightening the plant identifier signs around the garden.One of the most joyful experiences working in the garden has been watching the garden change as more plants bloom each week during the spring. It encourages her to plant her own garden so that each year she can watch her own plants bloom each spring. Emma will be working for an architecture firm in Greenville, SC designing high-end custom residential homes.

Noah Harper

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2021

Noah Harper is a Senior Horticulture major with a minor in Business Administration and is from sunny Iva, South Carolina. He first became interested in gardens when he was in fourth grade. He helped build a pond garden as a class project in his small, advanced science class. The class was six kids, so the project was really personal and he remembers feeling so proud when they finished the actual pond, which he dug at for hours. At the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden he mostly weeded and maintained the health of desired plants and also mulched on occasion. His favorite part of the experience was looking at the garden and being able to say he helped, “It is such a beautiful garden. It is a true honor to get to work on it and keep it as beautiful as it is, especially when everything is in bloom.” He hasn’t landed on what he wants to pursue once he graduates. He is pursuing jobs in land management, irrigation, cannabis, landscape design, and is open to a myriad of possibilities. He is also planning on starting a farm once he graduates but he still plans to work full-time outside of it, it’ll be something small and sustainable.

Dillan Hazzard

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
Agribusiness Major
Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden Team

Dillan Hazzard was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina but lived in Marshfield, Massachusetts for most of their life. They developed a love for nature at a very young age, driven by a curiosity to learn about their surroundings. This led Dillan to explore the ecology of the forests around them, understanding how each plant interacted within its ecosystem.

In High School, Dillan decided to deepen their understanding of plants by exploring the business side of horticulture. However, as an Agribusiness major at Clemson, Dillan missed the hands-on experience with plants. This longing led them to join the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden team, where they found joy in maintaining the garden, especially in tasks like trimming unruly plants and sweeping to keep the garden tidy.

Working in the garden reaffirmed Dillan’s passion for plant care, inspiring them to start their own garden at home. Dillan plans to continue working in cannabis retail with the hope of becoming a grower, aiming to diversify the field with their combined knowledge of plants and business.

Lindsay Hill

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080 Fall 2023

Lindsay Hill is a Horticulture major from Bishopville South Carolina. She developed an interest in gardening when young. Her mom always enjoyed planting flowers and Lindsay would help her do that at their house in all her years growing up. During her time in the Sustainable Garden she did a lot of weeding and mulching. Weeding is one of the things that she enjoyed the most because at home they have a vegetable garden every year that she weeded. Weeding in this garden led her to feel at home. She also found that she enjoyed getting to know her team member Victoria the most. Victoria helped her learn more in depth about the weeding and she taught her how to mulch properly. Lindsay’s future plans are to one day have her own flower garden at her home. As for a career she intends to stick mostly with agriculture and along with that would like to start her own flower shop.

Kinlyn Cherokee Hinson

Garden Maintenance/ Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2023

Kinlyn is a junior Agricultural Education major from Antioch, SC. In Antioch, her family owns Hinson Family Farms, a sixth-generation row crop and livestock operation. In recent years, she has helped to expand her family’s farm by adding a small greenhouse to start vegetable plants and a few flowers to support her bee hives. This newfound love for bees helped to grow her love for flowers and ornamental plants, which helped her realize how important it is to keep a well-rounded garden for pollinators.

In the Sustainable Garden, Kinlyn’s tasks consisted of pruning, weeding, mulching, and assuring the area is neat and clean. Kinlyn also conducted surveys in the Sustainable Garden that helped her to realize what students, faculty, and visitors wanted to see in the garden. The Sustainable Garden has taught Kinlyn how important it is for pollinators to have choices in native plants and how relaxing it can be to care for a garden while understanding the preferences of others and working to coordinate with other people. One thing Kinlyn enjoyed most about the garden was seeing people taking pictures and enjoying the work of herself and fellow students.

After graduation, Kinlyn plans to move back home to oversee the daily operations and grow her family’s farm to help bridge the gap between agriculture and the public.

Colby Hice

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_006 Spring 2014

Colby is a senior horticulture student from Fort Mill, SC. He completed a summer internship with Shamrock Landscaping out of Fort Mill, SC, and intends to take an advanced internship this summer in Charlotte, NC with Schneider Tree Care. After graduation in December 2014 he plans to either pursue a career in tree and plant health, or landscape construction/installation.

Lindsay Hill

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 12/2/24 Fall 2024

Lindsay Hill is a Junior Horticulture major at Clemson University. She grew up in Bishopville, South Carolina. She developed her interests in Horticulture at a very early age. She has grown up in farming with her father, and her mother managed a plant center for eight years. As a child, working in the garden was something she always looked forward to. In the Sustainable Garden, her work consisted of weeding, mulching, wiping and straightening the signs that identify the plants. The most joyful time in the garden for her was watching the plants change every week. Her future plans include going home to work on her father’s farm until she is 100% sure of what she wants to do. She is excited to continue her future in Horticulture and see all the possibilities of what she can do with her degree.

Coleman Hilton

Garden Maintenance/ Research Survey
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2024

Coleman Hilton is from Columbia, SC, and his major is Agricultural Mechanization and Business. He first developed an interest in gardening at the age of 13 when he began working for a neighbor in her garden. The tasks that he completed in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden were watering, straightening up signs, cleaning signs, putting out mulch, and pulling weeds. His aha! moment was when he was tending to the garden and saw some people stop walking to take a moment to look at the garden and then they came up to him and asked him about the garden. He realized that the garden meant more that his 3 credit hours and it had real world value. His future plans are to graduate from Clemson, and then get a job in the agricultural sales field.

Miles Holland

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2022

Miles Holland is a Landscape Architecture major and Horticulture minor from Williamsburg, Virginia. At an early age, Miles became interested in gardening and the natural beauty the outdoors has to offer. He was influenced by his parents love for gardening and his love for fishing and exploring the waterways around his hometown. In the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden, Miles enjoyed weeding and mulching in the garden with his peers. While working, he also enjoyed the interesting discussions he had with his peers about their fields of interest. He found great joy in keeping the garden pristine and hearing about the positive impact the space had on the students that walked by it. Miles plans on continuing his passion for place making in the future by owning his own residential design build firm.

Kathy Hollifield

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Summer 2015; HORT 4080_003 Summer 2016

Kathy is a senior horticulture major at Clemson University. She grew up helping her parents and grandparents care for their flower and vegetable gardens in Ohio. Kathy loves learning as much as she can about plants. She loves nature and finds working with plants to be very soothing. She performed weekly maintenance in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden two summers in a row. She applied mulch, weeded, picked up trash and watered (only when necessary). She also collected plant tissue and submitted it to a lab for analysis. Kathy enjoyed educating passersby regarding the types of plants in the garden, finding out their garden preferences via anonymous surveys and listening to them describe the joy that the garden brought to their lives. This experience has taught her that caring for a public garden is quite different from caring for a private garden. Kathy works full-time at Greenville Technical College and hopes to bring much of what she has learned at Clemson University to her job.

Mikaela Holt

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2016

Mikaela is a senior majoring in Natural Resource Management with minors in Forestry and Horticulture. Her hometown is Woburn, Massachusetts. The summer after her first year of college, she was hired to do landscape maintenance full-time on a college campus in New Mexico. This is where she discovered her passion for working with plants and maintaining an attractive landscape for others to enjoy. This is what sparked her interest in the gardens. What she likes most about the sustainable garden work is doing her part to make this green space beautiful through weeding, mulching and pruning. She claims it is rewarding to see the outcome of her work in the garden. Her favorite activities in life include hiking, camping, visiting botanical gardens, doing volunteer work for others, painting, sewing, baking, yoga, biking and taking care of my dog. Upon graduation in May, she plans to move back to New Mexico and resume her job doing landscape maintenance for the college there. While working out there, she will continue to pursue a career in natural resource management or in landscaping within the state of New Mexico.

Dalton Holzheimer

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2016

Dalton is a Horticulture major and Urban Forestry minor from Gilbert, South Carolina. He was first exposed to gardening by his grandfather when he was eight years old. They had a vegetable garden and grew annuals in pots to sell at the local flea markets and plant sales. His interest in horticulture has grown dramatically since then. What he likes most about the Sustainable Garden work is that he has the freedom to work in the garden as well as interact with people that are passing by. The tasks he performed in the garden included weeding, manure incorporation, mulching, and planting. He contributed to research by gathering people’s opinions on the garden through surveys. His favorite activities in life are hunting, fishing, boating, along with anything to do with the outdoors. His future plans in life are to climb the ladder of a large commercial landscape operation and become a branch manager one day.

Phil Huff

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2015

Phil is a senior horticulture major at Clemson University. Phil first became interested in horticulture while spending time in his grandmother’s home garden as a child. He would help his grandmother and family with their gardens while also beginning to start and maintain a garden of his own. Phil helped with the maintenance process (as well as plant installation/removal) in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden on Clemson campus and says that his favorite part of the process is engaging with passersby who were passing through the garden while en route to their daily activities. He was able to inform them on what was happening within the garden, both aesthetically and functionally. Phil was pleased to finally see real world application of the sustainable techniques he had learned throughout his studies at Clemson University. Phil is moving to Washington State in order to pursue a possible career in the hops breeding/quality control industry, among other endeavors. Phil will undoubtedly continue to learn, and implement the various sustainable methods that he has learned while at Clemson.

Bradley Hughes

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2021

Bradley Hughes is an Agribusiness major and Horticulture minor from Greenville, SC. He has an interest in plants and landscapes as well as the agriculture field. Bradley has been working in the landscape field since 2017 with Piedmont Landscaping out of Greenville, SC. Piedmont Landscaping sparked a flame in his love for plants and landscaping. In the garden, Bradley helped with pruning, weeding, and mulching on a weekly basis. He enjoyed watching the transition of the garden from winter to spring. Bradley’s knowledge of sustainable plants, as well as how to properly tend the plants, has grown astronomically over the course of the semester. In the future he plants to take the knowledge learned and apply it to future landscaping projects and jobs.

Jonathan Jones

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2019

Jonathan is a junior turfgrass management major from Anderson, South Carolina. His grandfather sparked his interest in gardening at a very young age by planting a vegetable garden. His main tasks in the Sustainable Garden included weed pulling, mulching, and pruning. His favorite part about working in the garden was creating a sustainable landscape to be enjoyed by fellow students and setting an example that can be carried on throughout the careers and home landscapes of others. His plans after college are to find a management position at a golf course or sports complex.

Katie Justice

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2020

Katie Justice is a senior Horticulture student from Fair Play, South Carolina. Her interest in plants began at a very young age when she would watch her grandpa plant a huge vegetable garden every year. She spent many summers as a child helping him pull weeds, water the garden, and harvest the vegetables. This early exposure to gardening fueled her passion for growing her own food, which transformed into a love for all plants.

Katie’s duties in the Sustainable Garden on campus included weeding, pruning, and engaging with passersby. Her favorite part of the experience was being able to educate people on the importance of sustainable gardening practices while working in a beautiful space. After graduation, Katie hopes to open her own nursery, as well as work to establish community gardens in local food deserts.

Jelsie Kerr

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2017

Jelsie is a senior from Walhalla, SC. She is studying Environmental and Natural Resources with a concentration in Conservation Biology. After taking a plant taxonomy class, she became interested in working with and learning more about plants. Her favorite part of working in the Sustainable Garden is having the opportunity to bring life into the garden she walks by on the way to class everyday. Outside of school, she loves hiking, kayaking, and spending time with friends. After graduation, she plans to gain experience working in the environmental field before attending graduate school.

Charles King

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2022

Charles grew up in Chapin, South Carolina and is a Turfgrass major at Clemson University. He was first introduced to landscapes and plants his sophomore year of high school in his agriculture class. It all began when his high school agriculture teacher got him a job at a local golf course near Columbia and he soon began to fall in love with plants and landscapes. Charles also loves to hunt and be in the woods which also had a big impact on his decision to major in Turfgrass. In the Sustainable Garden Charles worked on pulling weeds, mulching, and cutting back dead plant material before Spring hit. He quickly began to find joy in working in the garden when he got to hear other people’s thoughts on the garden and how it made them feel. His takeaway from the garden was he got to interact with people and learn other people’s perspectives on what looks soothing and nice in a landscape. His future plans are to be a superintendent of a golf course or a sales rep for John Deere, or even possibly run his own landscaping company. He looks forward to sharing to others what all the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden has taught him.

W. Brian Kirby

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2022 & Spring 2023

Brian is a Criminal Justice major and Sociology minor. He grew up in the Goose Creek S.C. suburbs outside Charleston, surrounded by woods, swamps, and marshlands that he fished, hunted, and explored through high school. Brian then spent the next 20+ years serving in the United States Army as a Special Operations Paratrooper. From the jungles of Panama, the Blue Grass of Ft. Campbell, KY, the deserts of Kuwait, the sandhills of Pineland, N.C, or the valleys and mountains of Afghanistan, Brian was always interested in how people connected to and interacted with their natural environment. Weeding, pruning, and removing tree stumps in the Sustainable Garden was the hands-on learning he was accustomed to in the service. Brian enjoyed his Sustainable Garden plant profile research projects such as Southern Persimmon; learning how it was beneficial to wildlife but harmful to horses. In his second semester, his plant profile investigation on the Paw-Paw was fascinating in its impact as a food source for Native American; yet contained toxic seeds. As a native resident of South Carolina whose parents grew up as sharecroppers in the Florence and Sumter area, the course provides an opportunity to reestablish personal ties to the soil and the land of his native state. His interest in fruit-bearing plants that are of benefit to humans and wildlife motivates him. “My goal is to learn more about the plants native to the local area and how to incorporate them into the landscape of my own property to enhance the ecological health of my land and promote wildlife development.”

Owen Lancaster

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2021

Owen is an Agribusiness student minoring in Horticulture at Clemson University. His hometown is Spartanburg, SC. He first developed an interest in the outdoors and landscapes at a young age, having always enjoyed being outside, mowing his grandparents’ yard, and later on by working for the athletic grounds crew at Wofford College and a commercial landscaping company. His tasks in the Sustainable Garden included weeding, trimming, and general upkeep around the garden during the Spring semester in 2021. Owen found most joy in observing the native plants blossoming over time as warmer weather was returning. He plans to work in the landscaping industry with hopes in owning his own business someday

Christopher Lerew

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2014

Chris is a freshman horticulture major at Clemson University. He has been involved with the maintenance of the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden. Some of the tasks he has taken part in are soil testing, insect identification, disease management, and weeding and pruning. His passion for loving to work outdoors comes from growing up and working on his family’s orchards in the fruit belt of Adams County, Pennsylvania. He finds caring for the garden to be relaxing and a reminder of his home. His favorite part in working in the garden has been watching the different stages of growth. He has also met many new interesting people in the survey collection task assigned to him. He especially enjoys hearing their opinions and comments. After graduation, he hopes to return to his family’s orchard to utilize all the knowledge about diseases, insects, sustainability, and plant maintenance that he has learned from working in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden.

Jeremy Loadholdt

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_006 Spring 2014

Jeremy is a senior Horticulture major at Clemson University. His love for nature and the outdoors was learned from his grandfather. He has been working in the landscape profession since before he could drive. He enjoys the before and after aesthetics of the enhancement jobs he works on. Seeing the client happy and satisfied always makes the hard work worthwhile for him. Working on the sustainable garden his senior year gave him the opportunity to talk to several people about what the garden was trying to show. He also enjoyed being able to leave a footprint on campus before he leaves. Jeremy has accepted a job back in his home town in Columbia, South Carolina, where he is going to run the pesticide and maintenance divisions for an expanding landscape company.

Inman Love

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2014

Inman is a senior horticulture major at Clemson University from Gaffney SC. His duties in the sustainable garden were to maintain the garden, keeping it free of debris, weeds, and trash. He frequently dead headed the various flowers in the garden, but made sure to leave as many of the seeds as possible for the various birds and animals which consume them as food. He also watered the garden only when needed in times of extreme heat and dry days. He conducted surveys which allowed him to see how students, faculty and staff perceived the sustainable garden. While working in the sustainable garden, he learned many aspects of sustainability such as weed management, watering and selective pruning. What changed for him was his perception of a sustainable landscape. Before working in the sustainable garden, he perceived many sustainable landscapes as being messy or un-kept. Now, he embraces the natural look of sustainable landscapes, and is truly appreciative of the natural beauty sustainability exudes. In the future, he plans to work in the landscape design and maintenance industry, and hopes to one day own his own landscape design and maintenance company. When working for another company or himself, he will always look back to the knowledge acquired while working in the sustainable garden, and implement that knowledge in his future career.

Tyler Lowery

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2020

Tyler is a Horticulture student at Clemson University from Mountain Rest, SC. She has an interest in landscape design, specifically edible landscapes, and has recently started her own farm. A substantial influence that instigated her intrigue and desire for starting her own farm, is her love for the planet and the need she sees for sustainable food operations. Although this garden is not an edible one, she loved the opportunity to learn about the principles of sustainable design and maintenance. Her time working in the garden was unfortunately cut short due to the 2020 Covid-19 epidemic, however she will cherish the experience and knowledge gained for a lifetime and plans on implementing her own 100% native garden site on her farm.

Healey Lucier

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2023

Healey Lucier is a senior horticulture student minoring in architecture at Clemson University. She is from Hilton Head Island, SC and has lived in South Carolina for 15 years. She has worked in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden for one semester. She has enjoyed being outside her whole life and has enjoyed having the chance to work with the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden. Her daily tasks included weeding, mulching, collecting surveys and general garden maintenance. Interacting with garden visitors was also one of her daily tasks. Some of the most valuable experiences she has gained from this was the experience of collecting surveys and data and gaining first-hand experience in sustainable garden maintenance. She hopes to work in sustainable design in the future, and this experience has been very helpful for her education in sustainable garden design and maintenance.

Madison MacInnis

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2017

Madison is a senior Horticulture student at Clemson University. He is from Gilbert, SC. Madison’s interest for nature and plants began in high school where he spent most of his time camping and being outside with his friends. Madison grows perennials with his older brother and works at Head-Lee Nursery when he is not in school. In the Sustainable Garden, he spent his time caring for the plants and conducting surveys. His favorite part of working in the garden was being able to talk to people walking by and hearing what they thought of the garden, as this was his first time being part of a public garden. After graduation, he hopes to start his own nursery business and will keep the ideas of sustainability close with him throughout his career.

Braden Martin

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2021, 2022, 2023

Braden is a senior Horticulture major at Clemson University and grew up in Greer, South Carolina. He developed an interest in plants and landscaping when he was about six years old, and it started because of his dad and him always being outside working in the yard. He would always want to be outdoors with his dad and help when working on the turf and the plants. As he got older, he got a job at a landscaping company and enjoyed that and then knew that this was the field he wanted to be in. His tasks in the Sustainable Garden include pulling weeds, mulching, and trimming plants. He enjoyed watching the plants bloom over time as the warmer weather moved in. He plans to continue work in the landscaping industry and potentially own his own business someday.

Kerrie McCaffrey

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2019, Spring 2020

Kerrie is a Horticulture major from East Hampton, New York. She first became interested in plants when she was younger and helped her family work in their garden and visited plant shops. Kerrie did daily maintenance tasks like weeding, pruning, mulching, and watering in the Sustainable Garden, as well as conducting surveys and interacting with passersby. Kerrie’s favorite part about working in the garden was getting to talk to people, answer their questions and see their reactions to the garden. Although on-campus work in the garden was cut short due to the Coronavirus restrictions in spring 2020, Kerrie’s favorite part was still interacting with passersby and the other students. In the future, she hopes to graduate and get a job in a public garden and educate more people on sustainability and horticulture.

Ben McElrath

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_006 Spring 2014

Ben is a senior Horticulture student at Clemson University. He has always had a love for being outdoors and working in the landscaping industry. Since his tenth grade year in high school he has been employed at a Carolina Beautiful Landscaping in Clinton, SC. So needless to say, landscaping is pretty much all he knows, and for the most part, all he wants to do. There is absolutely nothing about the entire landscape installation process that he doesn’t like, which is why he is so certain that he is following the left career path. His favorite part about working in the garden was when he got to install plants. In his free time he really enjoys hanging out with friends, hunting, and playing ice hockey. Basically anything that can keep him moving and active is what makes him happy. When finally finished with his degree at Clemson University he hopes to move back and take over Carolina Beautiful Landscaping.

Molly McKay

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2021, Spring 2022

Molly is a senior Horticulture major, with minors in Sustainability and Biological Sciences. She is from Hendersonville, NC and has grown up in the agricultural world, with her father being an apple farmer. She has always loved where she lived, and is frequently exploring the mountains, or working in her home garden. She has always had an interest in plants, sustainability, and research, so the Sustainable Demo Garden was a perfect CI for her. She and her fellow students weeded, pruned, and mulched the garden weekly, to help maintain and preserve the garden for the public. She enjoyed the praise and questions she got from those who passed by, since she loves to share her love of plants with others. A main take away from the garden, is that the public appreciates the garden and nature more than we realize. Almost every day, someone would complement the garden, and ask how they could get involved. As for the future, Molly will be continuing her education at Clemson in the master’s Plant and Environmental Science program, with a focus on cannabis tissue culture propagation lighting and media.

Kieran McKinney

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2019

Kieran is a Horticulture major, minoring in Art. He grew up on the east coast before finally settling in Beaufort, SC at the age of 18. Kieran has been interested in plants for as long as he can remember because they are beautiful, and he is a lover of all things beautiful and natural. He worked in the Sustainable Garden helping educate passersby on the environmental and maintenance benefits of a sustainable garden. He also tended to the garden by pulling weeds, mulching and pruning, as well as taking surveys so the garden can be improved upon. His future plans include designing landscapes and working on city sustainability through artful plant design.

Klaire McLane

Garden Maintenance/ Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subject Behavioral Research
HORT 4080 Fall 2018

My name is Klaire McLane. I am from Columbia, South Carolina and I am majoring in Landscape Architecture and minoring in Horticulture. In high school, I got my first job working in a greenhouse called Seven Oaks Plant Shop. After working for a year, I decided I wanted to go into the green industry. Working in the garden was such a pleasure, it is so peaceful to have a class to escape to gardening. While working in the garden I got to pull invasive weeds, prune back herbaceous plants, conduct surveys, put out mulch and much more! Working in the garden helped me realize how much people actually enjoy gardens and nature. While working in the garden random people would tell me the garden looked good and would ask for some information. My future plans are to become a landscape architect and focus specifically in variation of plants.

Mallie Medlock

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subject Behavioral Research

HORT 4080_007 Spring 2023

Mallie Medlock is an Agribusiness major and Horticulture minor from Greenville, South Carolina. Before her senior year of high school, she was looking for an internship and discovered a local flower farm. She ended up interning at the farm throughout the summer and her senior year, coming home to tell her mom about how awesome farming and playing in the garden was every single day. She had finally discovered her deep passion for growing food and taking care of the soil.

In the Sustainable Garden, Mallie focused on weeding around the Lehotsky bed and mulching. She also enjoyed cutting back the Muhly grass because it was satisfying to transform the messy-looking grass into an aesthetic mound while providing space for the new grass to grow. She found the work very rewarding when people would stop by and admire the area or start walking slower to take a deep breath and appreciate the life around them. These instances allowed Mallie to enjoy the little things, like weeding and trimming back dead plants, because people find beauty in all aspects of the garden, not just edible ones.

Mallie’s future plans are still in the air, but she has developed a passion for growing food and feeding people that will live on regardless of the career she pursues.

Trent Miller

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2014

Trent is a senior in Horticulture. He grew up exploring the woods around his hometowns of Lexington, SC and Okatie, SC. He grew up being taught to love plants, nature, and design. Working in the Sustainable Garden really brought all of those things together and was a great learning experience. He spent much time working in the garden, watching the plant and animal relationships, watching and understanding the growth cycles of the plants, and investigating what roles they play in nature. Working in the garden has allowed him to understand the delicate balance between the modern human world and nature, and it has shown him that the landscape is truly the interface between these two seemingly opposite things. It has also shown him that it is necessary to think outside of the box and to have an open mind to effectively manage the interactions between the natural and developed worlds. He hopes to use this understanding in his future work in either graduate school, professional work, or both. He will take his knowledge of these human/nature interactions and implement them to have a positive effect in both the human and natural worlds.

T.J. Mings

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2015

T. J. is a senior horticulture major from Spartanburg, SC. He performed weekly maintenance in the sustainable garden to ensure a very high standard that would be pleasing to anybody passing by through the garden. He weeded weekly and pruned in the late winter/early spring and helped apply mulch at various times throughout the semester. He took some soil samples to test for organic matter and available nutrients in the soil so that we knew what was readily available for the plants when we were ready to start planting. He also surveyed people to collect data on how they viewed the sustainable garden. This experience changed my views on how valuable gardens can be to an environment and how much it can benefit human health by creating a serene environment for people to just relax. After graduation he plans to work for Austin Outdoor as an account manager with future hopes of becoming a branch manager.

Carlos Morales

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2020

Carlos is a senior Agricultural Mechanization and Business major at Clemson University, he was born and raised in Sumter, South Carolina. Growing up, Carlos was surrounded by the sight of low-country swamps and pine forests. Both he and his family diversified these views by spending every summer in Puerto Rico. While in Puerto Rico, they worked to take care of family-owned property. This property was packed full of banana plants, mango trees, papaya plants, and plenty of breadfruit and Spanish limes. These long summer days are where he claims his love for horticulture and sustainable gardens started. Before coming to Clemson, both he and his father took a deeper dive into gardening. They began to focus more on peppers and devoted most of their backyard garden to Tabasco peppers. That year they had one Tabasco plant survive the first frost, so they decided to dig it up and pot it for the winter. Fast forward six years (2020), and this Tabasco plant has grown bark and is still producing peppers in copious amounts. This uncommon sight, combined with his love for tropical and other unique plants, has introduced him to the world of horticulture. It also fueled him to take part in numerous research projects and creative inquiries. One of these involved working hands-on in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden, where he pursued researching the introduction of more fruit-bearing plants into decorative gardens and introducing low maintenance community gardens into low-income areas. With this knowledge, Carlos plans to bring a unique twist to his home, and to businesses within his community, after college.

M. Skye Mowery

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2022

Skye is a Horticulture major minoring in Sustainability. She is from Salisbury, NC. She developed a love for plants as a small child helping her mom garden and looking at all the flowers every summer. She evolved a greater interest in plants in high school from her job at Patterson Farm that specialized in strawberries but expanded a love for landscaping a few summers ago with her internship at a nursery. She loved being creative with clients and getting together plants for their garden. Skye’s tasks in the Sustainable Garden included mulching, hand weeding, pruning, watering, and general care and cleaning up in the garden. Her favorite take away from this experience was hearing the good things that students and staff would share. She especially liked knowing that she could help make a positive influence on others. Her future is to work in landscaping or a garden nursery. She doesn’t have a set job yet, but knows she wants something that allows her to be creative and design spaces.

Lauren Skyler Murray

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2021, Spring 2022

Skyler Murray is a senior from Bostic, North Carolina. She is currently a Senior at Clemson University where she is majoring in Horticulture, with a minor in Plant & Environmental Science and Animal & Veterinary Science. Growing up actively involved in 4-H, she participated in the mini-garden competition, where she found a passion for plants. In high school she was actively involved with her FFA chapter where she competed on the floriculture team and worked inside the greenhouses every chance she got. Her passion has only kept growing since high school. Some tasks she completed in the Sustainable Garden were routine weeding, watering when needed, and pruning the bushes back so students could easily access the walkways. She has also cleaned and straightened the plant signs in case someone wanted to know what type of plants were in the garden. The moment she found joy in the garden was when she saw the difference she was making, not only from pruning the plants, but from interactions with people passing by as well. Several staff members were very appreciative of the work that she was doing and was sure to let her know. It was that moment that she realized she was really making a difference. After graduating Clemson, Skyler plans to continue working at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC and possibly looking into Extension for a job. Skyler enjoys spending time outside and loves to share her knowledge of the plant industry with others.

Briana Naumuk

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2021

Briana is a senior horticulture major with an agribusiness minor from Asheville, NC. She first developed an interest in plants when she was in high school and took an intro to horticulture class in her ag program. Her tasks in the garden included pruning, weeding, mulching, and deadheading. Briana found great value in being able to interact with the different native species found in the garden. She can’t wait to use the knowledge gained from this in her future ventures. After graduation, Briana hopes to pursue work in greenhouses and further her knowledge of everything plants.

Tristan T. Nisbet

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2023

Tristan is a senior Agricultural Mechanization and Business major from Salley, South Carolina. He developed a deep appreciation of horticulture at his family’s safari park, where maintaining high-quality landscapes is essential. His main tasks in the Sustainable Garden included weeding, mulching, edging, and pruning. Tristan’s favorite part about working in the garden was being able to work in peace when hardly anyone was on campus. His future plans are to work full-time at the safari park, with hopes of continuing to improve the park just as his father does.

Kelson W. Palmer

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2023

Kelson is a senior Agricultural Mechanization and Business major from Saluda, South Carolina. Growing up Kelson was always outside playing and learning about plants and was particularly intrigued with flowering landscape plants. Later in life he worked for many landscaping companies and even an organic vegetable farm because of his love for the outdoors and plants. Kelson’s task in the Sustainable Grden was to keep weeds under control, keep all the plants under control, and to also keep the garden mulched for a beautiful view of passing observers. Another task Kelson had to achieve was to conduct surveys from those passing observers to get a better understanding of what others think. Along with these tasks Kelson had to work as one big team to achieve all of this. Kelson’s aha! moment came when pruning back the Muhly Grasses and then seeing them just come back even prettier. The best thing that Kelson took out of this moment in the garden was the peace that working on something and just seeing something come together so beautifully. Regarding the future, Kelson is going to work at a Clemson supporting company, W.P. Law Inc. as a Fabrication and Controls Technician in the irrigation industry.

Paulina Peña

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2015

Paulina is a senior horticulture major at Clemson University from Greenville,SC. Paulina’s interest in gardens began when she was very young. Paulina has always had a strong passion for the outdoors, and gardening is way she gets to get closer to the environment. Paulina helped with the maintenance part of the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden, as well as research by conducting in-person landscape preference surveys. Paulina learned how to properly maintain a garden, lay mulch, conduct surveys, conduct a soil test, and about the plants in the garden. Maintaining this garden changed my appreciation towards the gardens and landscapes on Clemson campus. There is much more work that goes into these gardens than one would think. It made her appreciate the work and effort that goes into these gardens so much more! Paulina’s favorite part about the sustainable garden work was being able to be out in the garden taking care of the plants and getting to learn about them. Paulina spends the majority of her time outdoors. She is a competitive rock climber, surfs, snowboards, swims and loves to hike. Her main passion is photography. Paulina will be going to the Rocky Mountain School of Photography when she graduates. One day she hopes to create her own herbal tea company and go into herbal medicine.

Sarah Perkins

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2023

My name is Sarah Perkins and I grew up in small farming town in Northern California called Ripon. I am an Agricultural Mechanization and Business major here at Clemson University and I chose to minor in Horticulture because I wanted to learn more about plants in a realm outside of farming. I’ve had a love for plants ever since I was a kid. My mom always had a garden and I took pleasure in helping her work in it from a very young age. One of my most prominent memories from childhood happened when a family friend was helping my mom by pruning a Joseph’s Coat Rose that grew over our greenhouse. I picked up one of the thorny sticks she’d pruned off and stuck it in the ground, telling everyone not to touch it and that I was going to grow a new rose bush. They all told me it wouldn’t work, yet to this day that bush still stands next to the greenhouse and flowers every year. Working in the Sustainable Garden gave me the same satisfied feeling as I’d get at home while weeding my mom’s garden beds. Participating in the removal of weeds, laying new mulch, and pruning back dead plants proved to be so worth it when they started coming back as the spring progressed. It’s so satisfying to see a garden go from brown and weedy to clean and bright and it really made me feel like my efforts paid off. I know that those who walk through the garden must also gain joy from walking through and seeing how beautiful it’s become as the plants bloom and grow. I will definitely take the lessons I learned from working in the Sustainable Garden with me as I make a home for myself and have my own gardens. Besides creating spaces for myself to enjoy, I hope that one day I’ll be able to help others in their own gardening endeavors.

Ryan Ponder

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Summer 2018

My name is Ryan Ponder and I am majoring in Turfgrass Management. I am from Charleston, South Carolina which is where I developed my interest in gardening and plants in general. I have always grown plants in recycled containers then transplanted them to small gardens around my parents’ house. I started doing that at a very young age, around the time of third grade. In the Sustainable Garden on campus my responsibilities were to maintain the overall health of the existing plants and to continuously perform weed control. I also would help to educate people that were interested in a specific plant or the entire garden in general. Most of my days were spent weeding the garden and surveying people who would walk by. Some other tasks I performed were pruning and planting new plants. This experience has really opened my eyes to what it takes to upkeep a large scale plant garden. I really enjoyed being able to learn how to balance the health, aesthetics, and educational purposes of the garden. In my future I plan on going into the golf course or baseball industry and being a superintendent.

Wendell Porter

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2023

Wendell is a senior Agricultural Mechanization and Business major from Laurens, South Carolina. He developed a deep appreciation of horticulture at a young age helping his grandmother do yardwork and maintain a garden. His main tasks in the garden included weeding, pruning, and mulching. Wendell’s favorite part about working in the garden was the joyful interactions he had with people passing by and informing them about gardening. His future plans are to work with farmers in improving agricultural practices across South Carolina and become an amateur bass fisherman.

Kayla Pratt

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2021, Spring 2022

Kayla is an architecture major from Summerville, South Carolina. She first developed an interest in gardens, landscapes, and plants when she was very young. She was always outside with her father and her grandfather tending their gardens and asking about different plants. Kayla helped other students maintain the Sustainable Garden by weeding, pruning, and mulching. She really enjoyed maintaining the garden as it provided an escape from other schoolwork and it reminded her of the time she spent with her father and grandfather outside. She intends to use what she has learned while maintaining the garden while designing future architectural projects. She always includes an outdoor space in her designs and knowing what needs to be done to maintain it will be helpful in her design decisions. After Kayla graduates, she wants to return to graduate school to pursue her masters in architecture in order to become a licensed architect in South Carolina.

Kayla is an architecture major from Summerville, South Carolina…

Jessica Ryberg

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2023

Jessica grew up in North Augusta, SC, and is studying Horticulture with a minor in Biological Sciences. Her love for plants was sparked by working in the flower beds at her grandmother’s house growing up. In the Sustainable Garden, Jessica worked on various tasks, including cutting back swamp sunflowers, deadheading flowering plants, and weeding. She enjoyed the solitude and the satisfaction of making the garden look more presentable. Jessica plans to pursue a master’s in landscape architecture to fulfill her dream of becoming a landscape designer.

Samantha Shrier

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2021

Samantha Shrier is a senior Horticulture major with a minor in Biology who was lucky enough to intern at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University over the summer of 2021. Through her work there she was able to learn key plant and landscape care skills in a variety of landscapes throughout the 200 -acre arboretum. Her interests in gardens first came from the wild and unkept garden tucked away in her grandmother’s backyard. The mix between wild species and cultivated ornamental specimens mixing and interacting is still one of her favorite landscape styles today. Working in the Sustainable Demonstration Garden on campus allowed her to learn more about the growth habits and care needs of South Carolina native plants on a smaller and more intimate scale than she could accomplish at the Arnold Arboretum. Spending hours between classes on her knees surrounded by clumping groups of blooming swamp sunflowers and swirls of buzzing bees made this past semester spent in the garden one that will stick in her memories. Though her career may be pulling her towards a different path in horticulture, she hopes to apply the concepts she learned from the plants and resources provided by Dr. Vincent to build her own native garden someday. She hopes to pursue a Master’s degree focusing on nutrient ratios to best support the in-vitro growth of cannabis produced for cannabidiol production with Dr. Jeffrey Adelburg at Clemson University.

Wesley Skidmore

Garden Maintenance/ Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2018

Wesley is from Columbia, South Carolina and is a Communications major with French and Sustainability minors. While her history with plants is limited, she has always had an interest in learning how to cultivate and maintain plants of all types. In the Sustainable Garden, Wesley mostly weeded and removed dead plant material. When the garden began to bloom in the warmer weeks, she also conducted surveys of passing students and faculty to gauge their attitudes toward the native plants. In this garden, she gained valuable hands on experience with native plants and did constructive work in augmenting her plant knowledge base. These skills will help in her hopeful future endeavors working in forestry and conservation, ideally in state or national parks.

Chris Smith

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2015

Chris is a senior from Pelion, South Carolina and a horticulture major at Clemson University. Chris knew he wanted to be in Horticulture working with plants ever since high school. He was drawn to landscaping because he loves being outside and wants to share beautiful landscapes with everyone. While working at the sustainable garden, I worked in maintenance and Installation. He learned many different things about the Sustainable Garden including which plants work well in the garden, how to apply mulch, and how to conduct anonymous surveys to be used for data. Since working in the garden his view on sustainability has been changed. He now plans to incorporate sustainability into his future career. He sees himself working as a landscape designer for a company that believes in sustainability.

Cole Smith

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2024

Cole Smith is a senior from Lexington, South Carolina who is studying Agricultural Mechanization and Business at Clemson University. Cole developed interests for gardening at a young age. He grew up working in his family garden, and grew a love for gardening over the years. Since he developed these interests, he decided to pursue a degree in agriculture to continue to be able to work with plants and landscaping. During fall of 2024, he spent his time in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden weeding, watering, straightening signs, polishing signs, and mulching. He knew he was going to enjoy working in the garden on the very first day. After listening to Dr. Vincent talk about what was needed for the garden to prosper, Cole knew it was something right up his alley. Following graduation, Cole plans to continue to spend his free time gardening, and will use his degree to help local farms/nurseries with any agricultural insurance they might need.

Hunter Smith

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2023

Hunter Smith is a Senior Agribusiness Major with a Business Administration minor from Greenville, SC. His interest in gardens and landscapes started young, with experiences in keeping up the family’s hunting property and helping his parents tend the home landscape. He enjoyed helping with the Sustainable Garden this fall semester, performing tasks such as pulling weeds, laying mulch, cleaning off the signs, sweeping off the sidewalks, and cutting back dead flower stems. Hunter plans to get a job in the irrigation business, using his knowledge to recommend specific plants to customers and inform them on how much water they need.

Alex Smolka

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2012

Alex is a senior at Clemson University, his major is biological science and his minor is horticulture. Alex really enjoys being outside and all that the outdoors has to offer including hiking, camping, and the plants. Alex said that “the outdoors fits his personality”, he enjoys examining plants in their natural environment instead of in a lab. Alex was involved with the garden installation process and his favorite part of participating in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden was the interaction with people and talking about the plants. He enjoyed when someone would ask him a question because it not only offered a break in the work but it also allowed him to teach people about plants. Alex is on the rock climbing and sailing teams at Clemson and almost all of his hobbies involve being outside. Alex holds strong interests in plant breeding and research and he worked in the USDA vegetable lab during the past three summers. He is graduating in May and just accepted a post-graduate position with Amy’s Kitchen, an organic foods company based in California who is moving into the southeast production market.

Talena Stewart

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2014

Talena is a horticulture senior at Clemson University. She is originally from Columbus, Ohio and moved to South Carolina in 1999. She first became interested in plants in high school in her agriculture education course. Talena was heavily involved in agricultural competitions through her school’s FFA (Future Farmer of America) chapter. After her first competition in floriculture she began working for a local greenhouse that expanded her love of plants. As she worked her way into college, she experienced landscape maintenance through an internship working in a gated community. Talena eventually became employed at the South Carolina Botanical Garden working as a nursery assistant. She has used her skills that she has learned in her past and current employment to successfully help maintain the Sustainable Demonstration Garden. Some of her duties included weeding, pruning, taking soils samples to be sent off to a lab and blowing the leaves around the sustainable garden to prevent hazardous situations. During her time maintaining the Sustainable Demonstration Garden, she has learned that many people love having an aesthetically pleasing, vegetative area to sit around and gaze upon as they are walking to and from their destinations. She has also learned that people are curious about how to maintain gardens and where to even start. It was a great experience to be able to explain and show people just how simple it is to have a beautiful sustainable garden of their own. She loves to teach her fellow students and colleagues so she is interesting in working as an Extension Agent at a University to teach the public more about sustainable practices. Talena is also interested in working for the City of Greenville, as they work with the newest sustainable practices and have a wonderful working environment.

Andrew Stokes

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2023

Andrew Stokes is from Darlington, South Carolina. He is an Agricultural Mechanization and Business major at Clemson University and is minoring in Horticulture. In 2018, he was given the opportunity to work at the Clemson Extension in Florence, allowing him to research native plants around South Carolina. This was when he discovered his love for landscape management and his understanding of the plants around him. While attending Clemson University, he worked in the Sustainable Garden on campus, doing upkeep like weeding and mulching. Being able to be a part of the upkeep of the garden that students, staff, and visitors get to experience on campus is something that he takes pride in. After Andrew graduates, he hopes to continue gaining experience from Clemson Extension, allowing him to go on to do research of his own one day.

Abigail Taylor

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Science Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2024

Abi Taylor is a senior in horticulture at Clemson University. Before Clemson, she lived in Fort Mill. Her minor is in sustainability, and this interest in sustainable practices was one of the reasons she wanted to join this CI. Abi’s family had always been interested in gardening and creating beautiful landscapes, and her mother loved learning how they could plant the garden as sustainably as possible. They would utilize the plant’s natural qualities to create a pesticide and herbicide free garden, and Abi remembers always leaving the plant matter to naturally decompose at the end of the season. She was able to use these skills that she learned from her family while working in the Sustainable Demonstration Garden. She kept on top of weeding, mulching, and watering, all while adhering to sustainable practices like leaving seed heads for small animals. Her favorite part of working in the garden was getting to educate people passing by about the garden and its purpose. The garden is fairly small, and Abi thinks it’s easy to walk by without noticing it, so she enjoyed getting to bring the garden into the spotlight. Abi was interning for Clemson Cooperative Extension during this time, so she got the opportunity to write a few blog posts about what was happening in the garden, spreading information about it even further. This CI has made her want to create more sustainable spaces in the future. Whether it be in her own backyard or for a client, she loves the way that the native plants create so much life where they are planted. There were always bees and butterflies around the garden getting late-season nectar and squirrels and birds to watch. The space just feels so much more alive when the plants are beneficial to the surrounding area, and she wants to implement that as much as she can.

Courtney Tharp

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2022

Courtney Tharp is a Horticulture major and Sustainability minor from Chapin, SC. Courtney’s love for plants first showed itself during her childhood when she often found herself uprooting weeds from the yard to plant them into pots and take care of them. However, she discovered that growing plants could be the core of her career after taking a horticulture class in high school and getting her hands dirty and head full of plant science for the first time. During her time in the garden, she has learned how to properly identify and remove weeds (roots and all), prune perennial landscaping plants, and mulch exposed areas. An impactful moment for Courtney was the first time she uprooted vetch in the garden. After noticing nodules along the length of the roots, she was able to identify them as rhizobia associations. She knew from her Beneficial Soil Organisms class that legumes could fix nitrogen via close interactions with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and form outgrowths (nodules) to house the exchange. Courtney had read about it in books and seen pictures during lectures, but to see this phenomenon as it appears in nature was awe-inspiring! She plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Plant Biology to study the interactions between plants and beneficial microbes within the rhizosphere. She would love to ultimately end up working in agricultural extension to bring aspects of sustainable agriculture and research to the hands of the people that are responsible for growing our food worldwide.

Mary Vargo

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2017

Mary Vargo is from Piedmont, SC where she was born and raised. She is currently a Horticulture major with a Biology minor at Clemson University and is set to graduate in May 2018. She has always been a gardener ever since her mom would catch her eating worms when she was a baby and old enough to crawl around the garden by herself. She grew up learning how to garden from her mother, an accomplished gardener herself; and how tend to vegetables and flowers to get the best yield possible. When she was old enough (around 12 years old) her mother let her take the reins in planning, designing, and planting and tending to the garden all by herself. She was proud of the zucchini that grew in her garden that would make it into her mom’s delicious zucchini bread, and the tomatoes that her dad used as the perfect topping on grilled out hamburgers on hot summer nights. The flowers on the kitchen table were the same ones she planted from seed and watched them progress into the beautiful display that everyone who saw them marveled at. She has always taken pride in her work, and enjoyed sharing her harvest with others.

Making the transition from home gardening to a student run sustainable landscape garden, was quite the learning experience! Here, she learned how to take soil samples and conduct research surveys that would better the experience of future visitors to the garden and enhance the feeling of safety and well-being. Mary’s favorite moments and experiences while working in the garden is how easily integrated sustainable techniques can be applied while gardening. She intends to practice these techniques and implement these in her own future gardens to come. After graduation, Mary has accepted a post grad internship at Metrolina Greenhouses in Charlotte, NC. She is excited about this opportunity where she can learn how a big scale greenhouse performs to the industry’s highest standards.

Douglas S Walker

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2020

Douglas Walker is a Horticulture major from Lancaster, South Carolina. He first developed his interest in gardens, landscapes and plants by working for his father’s landscape business. In the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden, he carried out many different tasks which included pulling out weeds, cutting back dead plant material, and interacting with students or faculty that passed by. His favorite part of working in the garden was how changes to the landscape affected the moods of the people that passed by. Douglas plans to eventually start his own landscape business and greenhouse nursery.

Tyler Walker

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2018

Tyler Walker is a landscape architecture major minoring in horticulture. He was raised just outside of Columbia in Lexington, South Carolina, where he fell in love with the outdoors through his father’s shared appreciation for the landscape and scouting. In the garden, Tyler helped with weekly maintenance tasks that shaped the appearance of the garden throughout the spring season. He enjoyed observing which plants fell out of appearance as others began to sprout and flower, and hopes to use this knowledge when designing public or private landscapes and spaces with year round interactivity.

Blake Ware

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2018

Blake is a senior turfgrass major who is originally from Winston-Salem, NC. He realized his love for turf from plant biology courses and playing golf growing up. Working for three years at The Walker Course at Clemson University as well as completing two internships at Kiawah Island Golf Resort and Quail Hollow Club helped Blake realize that golf course maintenance was his calling in the turf industry. He enjoys working in the sustainable garden because it allows him to get hands-on experience and experience working with other students. His favorite thing about working in the garden is observing it outside of class and seeing fellow classmates enjoy the garden. During his free time, Blake enjoys golfing and relaxing with friends. Blake will graduate from Clemson in May of 2018 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Turfgrass. After graduation, Blake has accepted a job working on the Green and Grounds staff at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, NC with the ultimate goal of becoming a golf course superintendent.

Rob Wells

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2015

Rob is a senior architecture major and horticulture minor at Clemson University. He grew up running through the woods of Raleigh, North Carolina. An Eagle Scout, he always loved the outdoors- hiking, fishing, camping, and anything else outdoors was what he would be doing any given weekend growing up. With a background in design, Rob was very interested in the layout of the sustainable garden and how people perceived the design of the area. Rob learned how to conduct surveys on this subject as well as how to maintain the garden, how to decide if plants were working well or not in the garden, and acquired general information about plants in the garden. Through working in the garden, Rob gained an appreciation for the communication needed between the different groups associated with a project. The design team, installation team, and maintenance teams all need to work together for a project to be successful. That is something Rob plans to take note of and remember in his career with Primus Builders, located in Atlanta, Georgia, after his graduation in the spring of 2016.

Angel Werth

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2019

Angel is a senior horticulture and Spanish dual degree student from Kenosha, Wisconsin. Her interest in gardening began when she helped my grandmothers in their respective gardens as a child. When it came time to choose a major, she realized that she always felt at peace when surrounded by plants, and though she had a lot to learn, the idea excited her. Her classes and internships since have only served to increase her fascination for plants and gardens.

At the beginning of the semester there were a few plants suffering from pests or diseases, so she helped cut those back. Additionally, it was very hot and dry, so watering was a frequent task. Later in the semester, the focus turned to weeding and pruning as flowers finished for the season. Throughout the semester, she also conducted surveys of passersby, to determine their opinions of the garden and receive feedback. Working in the garden was always a soothingly tranquil spot in her otherwise hectic weeks, but speaking with one staff member who told Angel she comes out there for a break when work got stressful made her realize that it was a source of peace for others too. That conversation made her feel connected to the others who work in the garden and those who come visit it, and it was probably her greatest take away. However, it’s also worth noting that she greatly enjoyed observing the wildlife (mostly insects but also other small animals like lizards, and once a cat) that lived in or visited the garden.

This experience fits nicely with her career goals; after graduation, she’d like to work in a botanic garden, with the eventual goal of directing one. Her experiences at Clemson, including this one, have only continued to encourage this goal.

Alex Wienstroer

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2022

Alex Wienstroer is a Senior Plant and Environmental Science major from Saint Louis Missouri. He first developed interest in horticulture/agriculture on his grandparents’ farm at a young age. His interest continued as he went on to work for Saint Louis Country Club, where he spent his time tending the gardens and the golf course. He then continued his passion gaining an internship at Focal Pointe Outdoor Solutions in 2021, where he did a variety of horticulture related tasks throughout the summer. Furthermore, in the summer of 2022, he gained another internship at Helena Agri-Enterprises, where he provided land care companies, golf courses, and sod farms the tools to succeed in their businesses. In the Sustainable Garden, Alex could be found mulching, weeding, trimming, and pruning a variety of different plant materials. His experience in the Sustainable Garden was incredibly insightful and valuable. He plans to take the knowledge he learned about sustainable garden practices and native South Carolina plants into his career. After graduation, Alex plans to continue his passion in the horticulture industry.

Alex Williams

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2015, Spring 2018

Alex is a junior landscape architecture major with a minor in horticulture from Anderson South Carolina. Alex first became interested in gardening when he was young and helped his grandparents with their vegetable garden. His love for the outdoors and interest in design led him to landscape an area at his church for his Eagle Scout project and his interest in design and landscaping have grown immensely since. What Alex enjoyed most about his experience with the sustainable garden was being able to see how native plants can be used as practical, aesthetically pleasing alternatives to other more commonly used landscape plants. Alex enjoys being outside whenever possible, getting his hands dirty and watching things grow. Alex plans to work for a multidisciplinary firm designing public spaces that bring out the best in people. He is also considering seminary for post graduate education and working with an earth care ministry.

His second time taking the creative inquiry he enjoyed being back in the garden and working with others to accomplish goals and continue the work of the sustainable garden.

Cate Williams

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080-007 Fall 2024

Cate is a senior Landscape Architecture major and Horticulture minor from Norway, South Carolina. As the daughter of a farmer, she developed an interest in the natural world around her at a young age. As time progressed, Cate realized the important role agriculture and the environment play in our day to day life. This understanding led her to the major of Landscape Architecture, where she designs ecologically-friendly spaces that are both functional and beautiful. During her time working in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden, Cate was tasked with weeding and watering the planting beds, pruning back dead vegetation, spreading mulch, and adjusting the signage when needed. Cate’s key moment, where she truly found value in the experience, came when she encountered her brother, who was walking to class, while working in the garden. She got the opportunity to explain the importance of what she was doing and show how her efforts made a difference. Following graduation in the Spring, Cate plans to take a job with a Landscape Architecture firm and become a licensed Landscape Architect.

John Wood

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Summer 2021, Summer 2022

John Wood from Greenville, SC is an Agriculture Business major with a minor in Business Administration. At an early age, John became influenced in gardening by his grandparents who are Master Gardeners. Seeing their work in their ornamental and vegetable gardens led to John’s appreciation in horticulture. John worked for many summers with a landscape business learning skills and techniques for properly maintaining residential and commercial areas. Under Dr. Vincent’s instruction while maintaining the Sustainable Garden, John weeded, mulched, watered, and pruned which resulted in an appreciation for the many positive effects the garden offers to people and the environment. This experience has opened a renewed interest for John in landscape design which he plans to pursue after graduation in summer 2022.

Henry Wynkoop

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Fall 2024

Henry Wynkoop is an Agricultural Mechanization and Business major at Clemson University from Clover, South Carolina. He first developed an interest in plants early on in his life at his family’s farm where they raise cows, grow pine trees, and have several hunt clubs they plant food plots for and manage the land for the wildlife. This resulted in lots of exposure to lots of plants. While working in the research garden at Clemson he completed lots of trimming, watering, pulling weeds, putting mulch out, and interacting with students and faculty by doing surveys. Henry found great joy in the satisfaction of a job well done in the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden. He enjoyed looking at his work once it was complete. It also helped him unwind a little and get back into nature after being stuck in a classroom all day. Henry’s future plans are to work somewhere on a farm that is looking deeply into sustainable agriculture and working with the land. He plans to continue to learn more and more about sustainability and try to incorporate it into his family’s farm to save money and be more productive.

Mary Claire Zimmerman

Garden Maintenance/Survey Research
CITI Certified in Human Subjects Behavioral Research
HORT 4080_007 Spring 2021

Mary Claire Zimmerman is an architecture major and sustainability minor from Augusta, GA. She has an interest in sustainable plantings and landscape design in conjunction with architecture. Her curiosity for landscaping and gardening stemmed from her exposure to nature in the Southeast through exploring, fishing, hiking, and hunting. She grows her own crops with her father such as okra, blueberries, sweet potatoes, and peppers. Mary Claire enjoyed weeding, mulching, and pruning plants within the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden. Working with her peer gardeners through the COVID-19 pandemic was a blessing as conducting surveys and interactions outside the garden were limited. Mary Claire’s knowledge of gardening grew exponentially through the Sustainable Landscape Demonstration Garden in understanding how to care for sustainable plants. Her plans include pursuing architecture and interior design, alongside creating her own hat business.