Fast Growing Trees Plant Expert Team

Meredith's love for plants started at a young age, and only grew when she started working in the Desert Exhibit at the South Carolina Botanical Gardens and the Historic Filoli Estate in the Bay Area. After graduating from Clemson University (GO TIGERS!) with a degree in Biology and Horticulture, she found her niche in the FastGrowingTrees.com family as a horticulturist and has grown in her current role as Senior Plant Expert. She currently resides in her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, and enjoys spending any time she can outdoors. She learns new things about plants every day and loves sharing her plant knowledge and tips with those around her. Her favorite plant is constantly changing, but her long-time favorites are peonies, oak trees, and ferns.

Barbara's earlier careers as a graphic designer took her on travels throughout the Middle East and Southeast Asia, where she was able to see how people connected with plants and agriculture. After returning to school for an Associate Degree in Horticulture, she started her own landscape design and maintenance company. Since then, she's worn different hats in the industry, from horticulturist to landscape designer. Her passion for interior plants exploded when she was able to work for Interior landscaping companies. And while she learns something new about plants everyday, she enjoys helping folks understand plant care.

Though cursed at birth with a black thumb, Elizabeth always dreamed of being a plant person. Turns out she just needed a little guidance—now she’s the proud mama of nearly a dozen house plants! After joining FastGrowingTrees.com as a Content Strategist, she’s expanded her knowledge tenfold and learned how to keep her plants alive…most of the time. As a newbie in the plant world, Elizabeth understands the struggles of beginner gardeners. And as an experienced writer, she loves creating content that makes difficult concepts easy to understand. In her free time, she enjoys immersing herself in nature through daily lunchtime walks, weekend hikes, and visits to the park with her dog Fred.

Amanda is the photographer and media specialist for Fast Growing Trees, and has dual degrees in horticulture and Landscape Design. Originally from the Midwest, Amanda has great familiarity with the plants and growing conditions there, as well as knowledge about drought-tolerant planting in arid regions. Her training was completed in southern California, where she worked as a landscape designer before moving to Charlotte.

Phyllis is a Master Gardener growing in Zone 7 in Charlotte, North Carolina. She loves working in her landscape with flowering shrubs and perennials, planting around ponds and water features, and taking care of her dogs and her backyard chickens. A longtime Master Gardener educator in North Carolina, Phyllis is sharing her best tips for plant selection, gardening, landscape care and more with FastGrowingTrees.com.

As Content Strategist at FastGrowingTrees.com, Sarah is smitten with words and a fanatic for flowers, particularly cut florals and house plants. With a love for curating compelling content, she also enjoys furthering her plant knowledge along the way! A few of her favorite flowers include hibiscus, hydrangeas, peonies and dahlias. Sarah’s fondness for plants was cultivated through many childhood trips to Longwood Gardens in southeastern Pennsylvania, as well as through her first job out of college at a floral event design company. In her free time, catch her snapping photos of anything and everything, day-dreaming about interior decor, and enjoying the outdoors any chance she gets.

Abby is an avid plant lover and the Director of Content at FastGrowingTrees.com. She grew up in Maine, graduated from Davidson College, and now resides in Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband and two dogs. Her previous roles include leading content teams at Red Ventures, a large digital media company, and launching the content and marketing functions at an ecommerce analytics start-up. While her indoor plant collection is always growing, she also loves landscaping tips and learning more about plant care and maintenance. Her favorite plants are Japanese maples, roses of all kinds, and unique house plants.

Blair is the Content Marketing Manager at FastGrowingTrees.com, and though she's not your traditional gardener, the planting world is definitely growing on her (pun intended!). She's enjoyed digging into plant care and maintenance and growing her plant collection, especially with exotic indoor varieties.

Ryon is the Senior Creative Manager at FastGrowingTrees.com. He tries to show the unique elements of every tree and plant he captures, so viewers can confidently create a garden they love. He’s constantly learning fun new plant facts, and can be found sharing new plant tips with his wife. His favorite tree is the Rising Sun Redbud for its spring blooms and uniquely-colored leaf pattern. He's often driving around looking for the most colorful and unique plants to film and share with the FastGrowingTrees.com community.