About Us
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Marc |
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Marc Godts owns the nursery but has retired from daily operations. He spends his time looking for new species to grow and market. He also collaborates with other native plant growers and enthusiasts throughout the Southeast US to further the use of natives as a foundation to all landscapes.
He has over 40 years of experience in the landscape industry and retired from one of Central Florida's largest landscape firms. His portfolio includes theme park projects, educational facilities, state and municipal projects, restoration plantings, resorts, streetscapes, and private residences. With years of experience in management, Marc can resolve problems and bring projects from concept to final design intent. Marc is a horticulturist and a long-time member of several environmental organizations, including the Florida Native Plant Society, the Florida Wildflower Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and Audubon, just to name a few. Several of his designs have received awards and he has grown hundreds of native species, including many rare and unusual species at the nursery. Marc enjoys hiking, surfing, mountain biking, and botanizing in Florida and in the mountains of North Carolina. Marc's philosophy is to use native plants as the foundation for all landscapes with the purpose to create wildlife habitat in any place we function in our daily lives. |
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Jeremiah
Jeremiah 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 20+ 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 three children. Jeremiah believes that those who are fortunate enough to co-create and enjoy nature also have the responsibility to renew and protect it.
Sergi0
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. 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. |