Keeping It Green

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Margaret Pickoff

Margaret's work supports members of the commercial horticulture industry in Bucks County and greater southeastern Pennsylvania through education, outreach, and consultation. As a member of the statewide green industry team, she teaches topics in invasive plant identification and management, pesticide safety, and management of ornamental landscapes. Margaret also has experience in organic farming systems, cut flower production, and small grains. She holds a B.A. in Geology from Bates College and a M.S. in Plant, Soil, and Environmental Sciences from the University of Maine.

Tom Butzler

Tom is a Horticulture Extension Educator in central Pennsylvania. During his career he has worked with vegetable growers, landscape and turf professionals and area farmers with their production and pest management issues. Butzler also has been teaching beekeeping classes to youth and adults for over 25 years and developed Penn State Extension's first online beekeeping course, Beekeeping 101. Tom has a B.S. degree in Horticulture from The Pennsylvania State University and a MS in Plant Pathology from North Carolina State University.

Sandy Feather

Sandy's job focus is to provide educational programs and technical assistance for green industry professionals in southwestern Pennsylvania. She coordinates and teaches programs on integrated pest management, organic land care, ornamental plant identification and usage, and proper cultural practices including pruning, planting, and sustainable landscape design. Sandy also helps landscape professionals diagnose and manage plant problems on the properties they care for.

She provides basic and advanced training for Master Gardeners and speaks at regional professional conferences, including the Penn-Del ISA Shade Tree Symposium and the Western Pennsylvania Turf Conference. She is a certified arborist and licensed pesticide applicator.

Sandy is passionate about insects and native plants and spends as much of her non-working life in natural areas as possible.

Tim Abbey

Tim is the Commercial Horticulture Educator based in York County. His main responsibility is to educate nursery and landscape care personnel on the basics of establishing an integrated pest management (IPM) program in York and neighboring counties. Other responsibilities include Master Gardener training, educational lectures on ornamental insect pests and entomology lectures to civic organizations, garden clubs and children's groups. He has a BS degree from Juniata College and a MS degree from the University of Maryland.