Francisco Gomez
Francisco Gomez
Plant Production Associate
Diana Benner
Diana Benner studied Marine Biology with an emphasis in Instrumental Analysis and then focused her graduate studies in the field of Vegetation Ecology. Prior to The Watershed Nursery, she conducted vegetation mapping for the Calfed Integrated Regional Wetland Monitoring project and the San Francisco National Estuarine Research Reserve, assessed success of riparian mitigation projects for the Regional Water Board and ACOE, and assisted the San Francisco Estuary Institute and the Environmental Protection Agency with the development of a rapid assessment method for wetlands.
Since co-founding The Watershed Nursery in 2001 with Laura Hanson, Diana has dedicated herself to providing top quality materials and services for local habitat enhancement projects. Executing this goal has required not only the rapid attainment of horticultural knowledge and familiarization with local native plant populations (and managing entities) but also necessitated continuing research into current issues in genetics, hybridization, pest risks, and developments in environmental restoration techniques. The Watershed Nursery team has had the honor and pleasure of participating in hundreds of local habitat enhancement projects, working with non-profit, private, and government entities, and providing hundreds of thousands of plants to projects in central and northern California. In addition to her nursery work Diana is currently an organizing member of the California Native Nursery Network and the Phytophthora in Native Habitats Working Group.
Diana Benner
Founder / Project Supervisor / Board Member
Ramon Ramos
Ramon Ramos
Plant Production Associate
Catherine Worley
Catherine grew up in Houston, Texas, exploring coastal tallgrass prairies and longleaf woodlands. She graduated from Trinity University with a B.S. in Biology – Ecology and Evolution, where she studied native Texas grasses. Since college, she’s spent a few field seasons monitoring monarch butterflies and doing vegetation surveys across the Midwest, a term with the Texas Conservation Corps, and most recently, as a Center Operations Coordinator for the National Audubon Society in central Nebraska. As part of The Watershed Nursery’s Retail team, she’s excited to get back to working with native plants! In her spare time, you can find her hiking, rollerblading, and spending time exploring the wildlife of the Bay Area.
Catherine Worley
Retail Sales Manager/Board Member
Andrew Brosnan
A fan of both plants and non-human animals, Andrew has lived in the Bay Area since the mid-nineties. Although most of his work history is as an instructor of college composition and public speaking, he has had some meaningful experiences that have led him to The Watershed Nursery. He spent a year on a biodynamic farm learning about the land as an ecosystem while working with adults with developmental disabilities. Later, he had the chance to learn more about plants through the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden docent training program. Outside of his wanting to be a matchmaker for you and some of our plants, he gardens apples, citrus, and native plants at his place in Richmond and reads lots of world literature.
Andrew Brosnan
Admin / Retail Sales Associate
Edwin Ruiz
Edwin Ruiz
Plant Production Associate / Board Member
Maggie Bedord
For many years, Maggie took care of the plants at the Watershed Nursery by applying her practical knowledge from Cerritos College horticulture courses to prune, remove dead leaves, and apply integrated pest management practices to keep the plants healthy and beautiful. In recent years Maggie’s role here has shifted, focusing more on caring for the people that work at the nursery. She now primarily provides us with weekly massages, energy healing, and occasionally leads us in group Qigong. We all savor Maggie’s weekly visits and are grateful for her tender loving care.
Maggie Bedord
Employee Care Facilitator
Aaron Bluestein
Aaron grew up in Berkeley CA, spending much of their adolescence developing a deep passion for the unique ecology of their home state. After graduating high school, he enrolled at Berkeley City College where he pursued an AA in Liberal Arts while they spent their summer as an outdoor educator at Hidden Villa in Los Altos. Since 2019, Aaron has been attending Merritt College following a Nursery Management certification program. In his free time, Aaron loves exploring the East Bay hills, taking day trips to Mt. Tamalpais, or diving into the chilly waters of Baker Beach.
Aaron Bluestein
Retail Sales Associate
Jessica Hadden
Jessica grew in the Santa Cruz mountains, walking through wooded yards and tromping in creeks. She was reintroduced to the plants she had grown up with while taking a California Native Plants course at Cabrillo College. She has been dabbling in plant identification, herbal medicine making, and gardening ever since. While earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Geography from SFSU, she logged pollinators in native and exotic gardens, learning first-hand the value of native plants for pollinator diversity and habitat. At The Watershed Nursery she manages greenhouse operations and assists in the collection, planning, and production of nursery stock. In her spare time she enjoys camping, Guinean dance, and making art with her kiddo.
Jessica Hadden
Production Manager / Board Member
Isabel Hernandez
Isabel came to the nursery from El Salvador where she farmed Corn, Beans and Coffee. Since age 11 she would knock down weeds using a machete. It was her parents who taught her how to care for plants. At The Watershed Nursery she now pots up little baby seedlings by the thousands. Isabel has very nimble fingers as well as a strong back. From her native language of El Salvador, she has been learning English at a rapid pace and helping some of us with spanish in return.
Isabel Hernandez
Plant Production Associate
Stephanie Kyne Madrigali
Stephanie is from Marin county where her family introduced her to a love of plants through gardening, hiking, camping, and eating. Her respect for California native plants unfurled by reading field guides during her outdoor educator career and was solidified after a field botany class taken at College of Marin. She later received a bachelor’s degree in Biology with an Ecology concentration from Dominican University of Ca. Now she has found her plant community at The Watershed Nursery and spends her free time cooking, walking her dog, and puttering in her garden.
Stephanie Kyne Madrigali
Inventory Manager & Production Coordinator / Board Member
Argelio Sontay
From fifteen years of age, Argelio began cultivating the land in his home country of Guatemala. He farmed the traditional milpa of corn and beans in the countryside. He is very grateful to his parents for giving him a solid education and instilling within him a strong work ethic. With their help he was able to move forward and arrive to California. Here, he has worked in various capacities, including at other plant nurseries, as a gardener, cutting grass, and maintaining home landscapes. He has learned much from working in these fields. He is grateful to now be a part of the Watershed Nursery team, and help in the effort to maintain healthy plants.
Argelio Sontay
Plant Production Associate
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Staff
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Plant Health and Maintenance Specialist
Maggie’s practical knowledge comes from Cerritos College courses in horticulture although her interest in plants started with home gardening and tending indoor house plants. She takes care of the pruning and plant maintenance for The Watershed Nursery. At The Watershed Nursery, Maggie keeps mature plants healthy and beautiful by pruning, removing dead leaves and applying integrated pest management practices to keep the plants from becoming overwhelmed with non-beneficial insects or diseases. She also uses her background in art to create whimsical signs and hand painted pots that add color to the nursery.
[/fusion_toggle][fusion_toggle title=”Aaron Bluestone” open=”no” class=”” id=””]
Retail Sales
Aaron grew up in Berkeley CA, spending much of their adolescence developing a deep passion for the unique ecology of their home state. After graduating high school, he enrolled at Berkeley City College where he pursued an AA in Liberal Arts while they spent their summer as an outdoor educator at Hidden Villa in Los Altos. Since 2019, Aaron has been attending Merritt College following a Nursery Management certification program. In his free time, Aaron loves exploring the East Bay hills, taking day trips to Mt. Tamalpais, or diving into the chilly waters of Baker Beach.
[/fusion_toggle][fusion_toggle title=”Jessica Hadden” open=”no” class=”” id=””]
Production Manager
Jessica grew in the Santa Cruz mountains, walking through wooded yards and tromping in creeks. She was reintroduced to the plants she had grown up with while taking a California Native Plants course at Cabrillo College. She has been dabbling in plant identification, herbal medicine making, and gardening ever since. While earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Geography from SFSU, she logged pollinators in native and exotic gardens, learning first-hand the value of native plants for pollinator diversity and habitat. At The Watershed Nursery she manages greenhouse operations and assists in the collection, planning, and production of nursery stock. In her spare time she enjoys camping, Guinean dance, and making art with her kiddo.
[/fusion_toggle][fusion_toggle title=”Isabel Hernandez” open=”no” class=”” id=””]
Potter
Isabel came to the nursery from El Salvador where she farmed Corn, Beans and Coffee. Since age 11 she would knock down weeds using a machete. It was her parents who taught her how to care for plants. At The Watershed Nursery she now pots up little baby seedlings by the thousands. Isabel has very nimble fingers as well as a strong back. From her native language of El Salvador, she has been learning English at a rapid pace and helping some of us with spanish in return.
[/fusion_toggle][fusion_toggle title=”Stephanie Kyne” open=”no” class=”” id=””]
Inventory Manager and Production Coordinator
Stephanie is from Marin county where her family introduced her to a love of plants through gardening, hiking, camping, and eating. Her respect for California native plants unfurled by reading field guides during her outdoor educator career and was solidified after a field botany class taken at College of Marin. She later received a bachelor’s degree in Biology with an Ecology concentration from Dominican University of Ca. Now she has found her plant community at The Watershed Nursery and spends her free time cooking, walking her dog, and puttering in her garden.
[/fusion_toggle][fusion_toggle title=”Argelio Sontay” open=”no” class=”” id=””]
Potter
From fifteen years of age, Argelio began cultivating the land in his home country of Guatemala. He farmed the traditional milpa of corn and beans in the countryside. He is very grateful to his parents for giving him a solid education and instilling within him a strong work ethic. With their help he was able to move forward and arrive to California. Here, he has worked in various capacities, including at other plant nurseries, as a gardener, cutting grass, and maintaining home landscapes. He has learned much from working in these fields. He is grateful to now be a part of the Watershed Nursery team, and help in the effort to maintain healthy plants.
[/fusion_toggle][fusion_toggle title=”Susan Westcott” open=”no” class=”” id=””]
Retail Waterer
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Former Principal Vegetation Ecologist, Production and Retail Manager
Laura Hanson was a Principal co-founder of The Watershed Nursery, an industry leading California native plant nursery founded in 2001. She was trained in ecology, horticulture and business management and prior to starting the nursery she spent time as a wetland ecologist.
She was engaged in the daily operations of the nursery required to provide a large selection of healthy California native plants to San Francisco Bay Area residents. In addition to managing the retail operations and wholesale production, she facilitated a connection between the business and the local community by conducting nursery tours with groups such as the master gardeners, plant donations to local non-profit and stewardship groups, and job training opportunities for Richmond students. When not spending time with plants, Laura used her tech experience to set up systems to keep track of the plants produced and sold at the nursery. She also had a passion for capturing photos of plants that best show off their beauty and to help educate people on the value of a diverse California flora.
[/fusion_toggle][fusion_toggle title=”Diana Benner” open=”no”]
Principal Vegetation Ecologist and Project Manager
Diana Benner studied Marine Biology with an emphasis in Instrumental Analysis and then focused her graduate studies in the field of Vegetation Ecology. Prior to The Watershed Nursery, she conducted vegetation mapping for the Calfed Integrated Regional Wetland Monitoring project and the San Francisco National Estuarine Research Reserve, assessed success of riparian mitigation projects for the Regional Water Board and ACOE, and assisted the San Francisco Estuary Institute and the Environmental Protection Agency with the development of a rapid assessment method for wetlands.
Since co-founding The Watershed Nursery in 2001 Diana has dedicated herself to providing top quality materials and services for local habitat enhancement projects. Executing this goal has required not only the rapid attainment of horticultural knowledge and familiarization with local native plant populations (and managing entities) but also necessitated continuing research into current issues in genetics, hybridization, pest risks, and developments in environmental restoration techniques. The Watershed Nursery team has had the honor and pleasure of participating in hundreds of local habitat enhancement projects, working with non-profit, private, and government entities, and providing hundreds of thousands of plants to projects in central and northern California. In addition to her nursery work Diana is currently an organizing member of the California Native Nursery Network and the Phytophthora in Native Habitats Working Group.
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