Diana Benner
Diana Benner
Founder / Project Supervisor / Board Member
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
Assistant Retail Sales Manager
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
Valentin Benitez Ascencio
Valentin (affectionately called Don Vale) has been an integral and indispensable part of the nursery since beginning work here in January 2010. He moved here with his wife (Teresa) and son from El Salvador, where his two other children remain. For many years he was responsible for general grounds keeping of the nursery, hand watering plant material, keeping his eyes out for pests and weeds, assisting with potting of larger plant material, organizing containers, and a variety of other tasks. Nowadays he is primarily responsible for potting up young plant material with great skill.
Valentin Benitez Ascencio
Plant Production Associate
Aaron Bluestone
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 Bluestone
Retail Sales Associate
Teresa Gonzalez
Teresa, Valentin’s wife, started working at The Watershed Nursery in January 2013 as a potter in the plant production process of the nursery. Her background in farming in El Salvador and charming nature make her a welcome addition to this part of the business. Teresa has also contributed to the nursery for several years by making our office sparking clean every week (not easy to do is a dirt based business 🙂
Teresa Gonzalez
Plant Production 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
Kimmy Ortmann
Kimmy was born in the Bay, raised in Sonoma County, and has been fascinated with plants for as long as she can remember. She felt pulled to the plants of the Pacific Northwest, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Puget Sound, researched plant community ecology in the Hoh Rainforest of Olympic National Park, and performed habitat restoration work in the Portland area over the past several years. She is happy to now be back in her home state to apply the knowledge she’s gained along the way to the species that piqued her passion for plants growing up, thanks to the Watershed nursery and their extensive selection of California native flora! In her free time, she can be found roller skating, playing hacky-sack with her sister, practicing yoga, and learning about herbal medicine.
Kimmy Ortmann
Retail Sales Manager
Kai Rasmussen
Kai is an east bay native who is a general lover of the outdoors through hiking, sports, and grassy naps. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz in Sociology he has pivoted his social science background towards natural spaces. His fondness for the plant world was instilled by parents who encouraged camping and gardening, as well as later in life volunteering in agriculture spaces at permaculture farms in Europe and Maui. He has worked as a gardener in the east bay over the years and is grateful to currently be a part of the watershed nursery team. Kai enjoys his free time playing frisbee, tide pooling, and biking the bay’s hills.
Kai Rasmussen
Nursery Site Manager
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
Matt Weger
Matt’s interest in habitat enhancement was sparked when he planted his first willow cutting in the bank of a waterway at the Jepson Prairie Reserve. He then realized this was the best way to fit himself in concert with the natural surroundings. After college he gained experience planting, collecting seed, and growing native California plants. He deviated from his path a bit with forays into organic farming, soil ecology, and aquaculture. After moving to Pt Richmond Matt feels fortunate to have landed so close to a California Native Plant Nursery although he was bemused to find most of the plant names have changed. “A Potentilla by any other name…”.
Matt Weger
Project Manager / Board Member
Susan Westcott
Susan was sprouted in Pasadena in the last century. In her previous work at an elementary school, she planted a teaching garden for the students to learn about where their food comes from and the importance of pollinators. She has since relocated to the East Bay, where she lives with her dog Roni who likes to assist in garden maintenance and watering the plants. Her coworkers affectionately call her “the Ambassador” because her and Roni are often the first to greet folks who wander into the nursery 🙂 Susan loves working at the Watershed Nursery: she enjoys learning about the incredible plants of California.
Susan Westcott
Retail Plant Waterer
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Staff
[/fusion_text][fusion_accordion border_size=”1″ hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility”][fusion_toggle title=”Maggie Bedord” open=”no”]
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=” Valentin Benitez Ascencio” open=”no”]
Grounds Maintenance
Valentin came to work at the nursery January of 2010. He came to the nursery from his home in El Salvador where he owns a farm and had extensive experience in growing crops and managing plant and animal production. He moved here with his wife and one son and his two other children remain in El Salvador. Don Vale is responsible for general grounds keeping of the nursery. He does the hand watering of container and bed material, keeps his eyes out for pest and weeds, assists with potting up of larger plant material, organizes containers, helps load trucks, builds shade structures, reports on any new problems and basically has become an integral and indispensable part of the nursery.
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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=”Teresa Gonzalez” open=”no”]
Potter
Teresa, Valentin’s wife, started working at The Watershed Nursery in January 2013 as a potter in the plant production process of the nursery. Her background in farming in El Salvador and charming nature make her a welcome addition to this part of the business. Teresa has also contributed to the nursery for several years by making our office sparking clean every week (not easy to do is a dirt based business 🙂
[/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=”Matt Weger” open=”no” class=”” id=””]
Project Manager
Matt’s interest in habitat enhancement was sparked when he planted his first willow cutting in the bank of a waterway at the Jepson Prairie Reserve. He then realized this was the best way to fit himself in concert with the natural surroundings. After college he gained experience planting, collecting seed, and growing native California plants. He deviated from his path a bit with forays into organic farming, soil ecology, and aquaculture. After moving to Pt Richmond Matt feels fortunate to have landed so close to a California Native Plant Nursery, although he was bemused to find most of the plant names have changed. “A Potentilla by any other name…”.
[/fusion_toggle][fusion_toggle title=”Kimmy Ortmann” open=”no” class=”” id=””]
Retail Sales Manager
Kimmy was born in the Bay Area, raised in Sonoma County, and has been fascinated with plants for as long as she can remember. She felt pulled to the plants of the Pacific Northwest, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Puget Sound, researched plant community ecology in the Hoh Rainforest of Olympic National Park, and performed habitat restoration work in the Portland area over the past several years. She is happy to now be back in her home state to apply the knowledge she’s gained along the way to the species that piqued her passion for plants growing up, thanks to the Watershed nursery and their extensive selection of California native flora! In her free time, she can be found roller skating, painting, and learning about herbal medicine.
[/fusion_toggle][fusion_toggle title=”Kai Rasmussen” open=”no” class=”” id=””]
Nursery Site Manager
Kai is an east bay native who is a general lover of the outdoors through hiking, sports, and grassy naps. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz in Sociology he has pivoted his social science background towards natural spaces. His fondness for the plant world was instilled by parents who encouraged camping and gardening, as well as later in life volunteering in agriculture spaces at permaculture farms in Europe and Maui. He has worked as a gardener in the east bay over the years and is grateful to currently be a part of the watershed nursery team. Kai enjoys his free time playing frisbee, tide pooling, and biking the bay’s hills.
[/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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