Maria's enchantment with the garden world has cultivated a special kinship with plants and flowers of all kinds in the many gardens she has designed. Every aspect of her life has revolved around the garden and all that it has inspired her to do. Maria has captured the quiet moments of some of her favorite flowers in prisma colors highlighted with opaque watercolors. Her botanicals are exhibited through out California.

        Maria majored in Art and studied under Vernon Nye, renowned watercolorist, at Pacific Union College in Angwin, California. In 1990, she completed her studies at St. Mary's College in Moraga, California. With an emphasis in painting, Maria has combined her knowledge of the brush with the vivid accuracy of colored pencils, creating intricate and delicate botanicals that have been compared to Henry Evans' treasured botanical series.

        Maria is AMERICA'S ROYAL GARDENER with a weekly garden column corresponding with radio tips on National Public Radio. She is a freelance garden writer for various newspapers, national magazines and trade publications. Maria is a Horticulture Environmental Consultant and teaches in the Horticulture Department of Butte-Glenn College and Extended Education for CSU, Chico. She appears on television and lectures at special events throughout the garden world.

         Additionally, Maria has just completed the illustrations for her children's garden book series. Maria lives in Butte Valley, California with her husband, Chris, and daughters, Alicia and Anna, all of whom bask in her love from the garden.