About Us
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Marc |
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Marc Godts owns the nursery and is our lead designer and head grower. He has 30+ years of experience in the landscape construction industry and is retired from one of Central Florida’s largest landscape firms. His portfolio includes theme park projects, education facilities, state and municipal projects, restoration plantings, hotels, streetscapes and specialty home projects. With years of experience in management, Marc has the ability to resolve problems and to bring the project from concept to final design intent.
Marc is a horticulturalist and has been a member of the Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS) for over 25 years and a volunteer with The Nature Conservancy on rare plant surveys. Several of his designs have received awards from FNPS and he has grown hundreds of native species, including the rarer and more unusual species at his nursery. Marc enjoys hiking, surfing, mountain biking and botanizing. Marc’s philosophy is to use native plants as the foundation of all landscapes and, if necessary, to garden with appropriate non-invasive exotics. |
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JeremiahJeremiah Dickens is the habitat designer and project manager at Green Isle Gardens. Coming from a family of plantsmen, he was early to develop a deep appreciation and knowledge of the natural world. With 15+ years of industry experience, he has designed, built, and maintained numerous native plant based projects for residential, commercial, and municipal clients in Florida and New York. When not working, he’s likely exploring Florida with his wife and two children. Jeremiah believes that those with the fortune to co-create and enjoy nature also have the responsibility to renew and protect it.
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Sergio Medina-Estudillo is our outside field crew leader and has been with the nursery since its beginning. He has over 11 years of hands-on experience at Green Isle Gardens and in the native plant industry. This includes nurseryman work, irrigation repair and installation, residential and commercial landscape installation and maintenance, hardscaping projects, restoration and conservation, the removal of invasive exotic species in residential, commercial and natural land areas and has participated in several native plant rescues and species reintroduction to natural lands. He likes being able to watch landscapes mature over time and enjoys being in scrub habitat. His favorite native plant is the silver saw palmetto.
Sergio is from Chiapas, Mexico. His free time is spent between running his own landscaping business and spending time with his family and 3 daughters. Jose
Jose Escobar is our production manager and oversees all crews and stages of production from propagation to step-up, pest and nutrient management, plant inventory and contract grow outs. He has gained over 20 years of experience in the plant nursery industry prior to his arrival at Green Isle Gardens in March of 2022. Jose loves to grow plants and finds it amazing to watch them grow. He likes milkweeds, butterfly gardens and watching the fluttering of activity that they bring.
Jose moved from Chiapas, Mexico to Florida in 1999. His passion is his family and when he is not working he likes to spend quality time with his 3 sons, daughter and beautiful wife, and, as a passionate family man, he knows the importance of conservation of ecosystems and wildlife for future generations. Eric
Eric Font is our delivery driver, does plant and nursery maintenance and retail and wholesale sales. In 2017 Eric earned a B.A. in politics from Marymount University in Arlington, Va. and a Plant Science certificate from Valencia college in 2022. He has worked for American Embassies in Egypt and India, and at a ranch in Yucatan, Mexico producing organic products such as habanero peppers and various other fruits.
Eric was born in Bethesda, Maryland then lived abroad until moving to central Florida in 2019 where he now resides with his family and dog, Senye. His hobbies include traveling to different parts of the state, visiting nature preserves and attending local events. He enjoys meeting different people who have the same interest in native plants and seeing how they are used. Eric finds scrub communities interesting because of the unique plants that thrive there and likes the textured appearance that the fine sandy soil gives the plants. He thinks native plants are a more sustainable option in urban settings because they reduce the excessive use of fertilizers, pesticides, and water. Heather
Heather Keim is our retail intern sales specialist studying biology and plant sciences at UCF. She also studies entomology and ethnobotany of Florida natives in her free time. Heather is a member of the Florida Native Plant Society’s Passionflower Chapter, the UCF Botanical Society and the UCF Entomology Society. Heather understands how valuable native plants are to pollinators of all kinds- butterflies, native bees, moths, wasps and flies- either as a host plant or nectar source. Her favorite aspect of working for the nursery is getting to share knowledge about native plants and pollinators, and showing people plants they may not know about that are suitable for their landscape.
Heather is a native Floridian born and raised in Clermont. She likes hiking, bug and plant macrophotography and her cat, Princess. You can find her work @solidagospp on Instagram. Heather's favorite Florida ecosystem is Pine Flatwoods and favorite native plants are Sundews and Pitcher Plants. Jules
Jules Martin is our retail sales specialist. She helps maintain the garden beds and nursery plants when she isn’t busy assisting customers with her big smile and friendly demeanor. Her favorite aspects of the job are being outside caring for plants, helping people learn about native plants, and helping them create native habitats. Jules has been a secondary teacher for 23 years and has a B.A. in Education. She is currently working on a MA in Applied Learning and Instruction at UCF.
Jules is a native Floridian from Cape Canaveral and spends her time in her community garden and caring for her bees - where she applies her interests in food permaculture and sustainable micro-farming. She is a member of the Lake County Beekeepers Club. Jules became enamored with the Sierra Mountains while living in California and Nevada and enjoys hiking, camping, backpacking, sharing food from her gardens and her 3 cats. Natalia
Natalia De Jacobo works in plant propagation doing vegetative cuttings and has been with the nursery since 2017. As a plant lover, she loves caring for plants and absolutely everything about native plants. Her favorite native plants are Helianthus species, particularly Dune Sunflower (H. debilis).
Natalia is from San Luis Potosi, Mexico and likes spending time with her family and four daughters. Kelly
Kelly Trujillo works in plant propagation sowing seeds, does greenhouse plant maintenance and helps package shipments. She likes watching seeds germinate, Salvias and wildflowers, bees, butterflies, learning about native plants and the preservation of wildlife.
Kelly is from Chiapas, Mexico and enjoys spending time with her two young children. |