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  • Choosing Fast Growing Trees
    1. Leyland Cypress
    1. Arizona Cypress
    1. Sitka Spruce
    1. Eastern White Pine
    1. Grand Fir
    1. Virginia Pine
  • Help Your Trees Grow Faster

Teo Spengler is a master gardener and a docent at the San Francisco Botanical Garden, where she hosts public tours. She has studied horticulture and written about nature, trees, plants, and gardening for more than two decades, following a career as an attorney and legal writer. Her extended family includes some 30 houseplants and hundreds of outdoor plants, including 250 trees, which are her main passion. Spengler currently splits her life between San Francisco and the French Basque Country, though she was raised in Alaska, giving her experience of gardening in a range of climates.

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  • Post-Holiday Period
  • Summer Growth Period
  • Critical Dark Period
  • Signs of Success
  • Common Mistakes

Tyler’s passion began with indoor gardening and deepened as he studied plant-fungi interactions in controlled settings. With a microbiology background focused on fungi, he’s spent over a decade solving tough and intricate gardening problems. After spinal injuries and brain surgery, Tyler’s approach to gardening changed. It became less about the hobby and more about recovery and adapting to physical limits. His growing success shows that disability doesn’t have to stop you from your goals.

  • Amy Grant Writer
  • Nikki Tilley Senior Editor