Women in Horticulture, Chemeketa Community College

I recently attended an event called Women in Horticulture (celebrating women with Community College and Technical Institute roots) held at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon. I went not knowing exactly what to expect, but since three women I know (and respect) were speaking, I figured it was going to be a great event (and it was).

Here are those ladies, left to right: Margaret Ney, Grower at Little Prince of Oregon (LPO); Alexa Patti, Nursery Manager and Head Grower at LPO; and Emily Joseph, Nursery and Sales Manager for the Hardy Fern Foundation, and Retail Sales Manager and Assistant Nursery Manager for the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden (RSBG).

This lady, Joleen Schilling, Horticulture Department Head at CCC, was the event organizer and she gave a heartfelt introduction for each of the six speakers. 

We were there to learn about the different fields the women work in, what their work involves, and things they’ve learned along the way—but the main take away for me was just how much support and love there was in the room. Spending my day here, listening to the stories these women shared, filled me with such hope for the future, a feeling that has been in very short supply lately. 

I’ve known Alexa for a while now, but I learned so much more about her listening to her talk. 

Alexa (who graduated from the Clackamas Community College Horticulture program) is not afraid of hard work, that, and her intense drive to research and solve problems, means that after graduating just 4 years ago, she’s already risen to a top position at LPO. I was shocked to learn that the average head grower in the nursery industry is 55 years old, and there is rarely a succession plan in place for when they leave the field. I also learned that approximately 90% of the staff at Little Prince (throughout all levels) is female!

Something I heard from many of the speakers that day was the importance of learning to speak Spanish, because as we know, most of the folks who work with our plants are immigrants. Alexa organized a tutor to come to LPO and give free classes to the staff, BOTH English speakers who want to learn Spanish, and Spanish speakers who want to learn English.

Those of you who attended the Puget Sound Fling last July might recognize this smile…

Emily got her degree in Environmental Horticulture from Lake Washington Institute of Technology. After several years in the hospitality industry (restaurant management) she'd come to realize she wasn’t going to be happy there long term. Her supportive partner asked the right questions and she hit upon horticulture as her future, starting the program during COVID with online programs and (thankfully) greenhouse time.

Keeping it real she shared this photo to illustrate that nursery work is HARD, you get dirty, you sweat, this is physical labor. 

She also confessed to hating rhododendrons when she was first hired as the Visitor Center Coordinator at the RSBG (knowing you have to start somewhere, she was willing to work into the position she really wanted), she saw them as big blobs in the landscape, badly pruned and often with pink flowers (that sounds very familiar).

Emily ended her presentation with the news that she’s headed to New Zealand! 

The next speaker was Liz Shinn, farmer, and co-owner of Camron Ridge Farmstead and a graduate of the Chemeketa program. Liz echoed something Emily said earlier, that it took her significant other asking the question “if you could do anything”… for her to realize how much the hort industry was calling to her, and her specific dream was to open a farm stand. She also cautioned that you have to love the work since it's not a high paying industry.

After Liz finished up with her talk we had a break for lunch and for me that also meant checking out the grounds...

This facility has new state of the art greenhouses.

Tomatoes!

Basil! (it was lunchtime, I was getting hungry)

And flowers...

Such big blooms on a small shrub (edgeworthia).

Next we heard from Katie Buswell (a graduate of the Chemeketa program) who does inside sales for Monrovia Nursery.

Among other things Katie shared that taking the Plant ID class felt like her eyes were open for the first time, and that an internship in out in the field taught her she’s an office person. I loved that, I mean not everyone needs to work directly with the plants to be in the industry.

Next we heard from Grace Sheuflet, Floral Designer, owner Blooms of Grace, and graduate of Chemeketa program.

Grace is a big fan of social media sharing ("sharing makes it better") even while recognizing that it can sometimes be seen as showing off, something I think those of us who post a lot wrestle with, I know I do. I also learned that styled photo shoots are where professionals in the wedding industry (photographers, florists, venues) come together to stage a fake wedding and they all use the resulting photos to promote their businesses. Who knew?

Margaret was the last speaker of the afternoon. I learned she first set out for a career in underwater welding, because she "wanted the money"... (and yet here she is in horticulture).

After two years at LPO she's worked her way through a few different positions and she's now the Young Plant Grower, not because she's young (although she is), but because she is in charge of the young plants, like the tiny liners. She was also the cover girl for the Oregon Association of Nurseries Digger magazine...

Truth be told I left this event a little jealous of these ladies, wishing that I'd heard the call earlier and had completed an education in a horticulture field. Not that it's all bad, I am lucky to get to write about it.

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