Judy Alleruzzo
host of "Garden Time"
I grew up in Chicago & had my first flower garden when I was about 10 years old.  My Mom always says I inherited my love of gardening from my Sicilian Grandfather, as she doesn't like to garden.
Over the years, I took care of the small veggie and flower garden in our city yard.  When it was time to get a job, I found a position in a tropical plant shop.  Houseplants were all the rage & I collected a huge amount.  Our family's home looked like a jungle.
College came along & horticulture was the natural progression of my interests.  A suburban college offered a 2 year horticulture degree so I signed up.  The classes were interesting & fun & I learned a lot. (Even today, I remember many Botanical names that were burned into my brain.)  Unfortunately, the job market in Chicagoland was not much, so the knowledge was just used for my personal enjoyment.
Fast forward to 10 years later.  My husband Ben Gentile & I are on a 1 year "vacation," traveling around the world.  I am visiting gardens and seeing landscapes I had only seen in books. All the years of gardening as a hobby paid off as I knew a little about a lot of plants.
The year ended with a re-entry into the U.S.A. in Portland, Oregon. It was April and every plant seemed to have flowers. The sun shone almost every day.  Ben and I were hooked. We flew back to Chicago, sold the house and were back in Oregon by Christmas.
Now I needed to learn about gardening in the Willamette Valley.  Marion County Master Gardener's classes were starting up in January. What a great bunch of people to meet & learn from!  In the course of those classes, I heard about a garden center called Al's Fruit & Shrub Center.  I needed a job & thought Al's would be a place to start.  Lucky for me they needed a cashier. My luck held out & a Perennial Department position opened up.
It was near the beginning of the perennial plant craze in gardening. I was swept up in the explosion. I now buy the perennial varieties for our production facility to grow and Al's three stores to sell. It is challenging and a lot of fun.  We now grow over 1000 varieties. I'm always on the lookout for interesting plants to tempt our customers.
I know I will be learning much more about gardening in Oregon through Garden Time. I know the viewers will too!