Horticulture has always been natural for Tony Tomeo. Before he was old enough to speak, he was conversing and interacting with everything that grew in the garden of his family’s western San Jose home. His favorite childhood toys were small garden tools; a shovel, rake, hoe, and of course, a deluxe Radio Flier wagon to transport all the vegetables from the garden.  

Even as urban sprawl and the electronics industry replaced the last of the once vast orchards of ‘the Valley of Heart’s Delight’, Tony defiantly pursued a career in horticulture. After high school, he left his beloved Santa Clara Valley long enough to attain his degree in horticulture from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Although interested in almost every horticultural industry, Tony enjoyed nursery production most.   

After returning to Los Gatos in 1990, Tony was primarily involved with production of horticultural crops, particularly rhododendrons and associated minor crops at Bay Laurel Nursery of Scotts Valley. Eventually though, increasingly frequent consulting for various tree services and landscape businesses became more demanding than the nursery industry. By 1998, Tony became a professional consulting horticulturist, and International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist.  

In the autumn of 1998, Tony began writing the gardening column for the Silicon Valley Community Newspapers, which consisted of the Los Gatos Weekly Times, the Saratoga News, and the Willow Glen Resident. The column originally appeared every other week, but soon became a weekly feature. The Sunnyvale Sun and the Cupertino Courier were added to the group shortly afterward. Over the years, the Campbell Reporter and a series of ‘Resident’ newspapers for various districts of San Jose were likewise added, so that there are now more than a dozen local newspapers within the Silicon Valley Community Newspapers group carrying his column. The online edition of the San Jose Mercury News also carries most of his article columns as well. 

The gardening column also appeared in the Morgan Hill Times, Gilroy Dispatch and Hollister Freelance. Modified articles have also been published in various trade magazines. Tony’s Garden Report on KSCO in Santa Cruz was broadcast throughout the Monterey Bay Area and most of the San Francisco Bay Area. Various local radio and television broadcasters occasionally interviewed Tony for news topics ranging from ‘sudden oak death syndrome’ to ‘living Christmas trees’.  

Tony recently did a segment for HGTV discussing the various attributes on Rhododendrons that is schedule to air in the spring 2009.    

In August of 2006, Tony relocated into the Santa Cruz Mountains just outside of Los Gatos. Leaving such excellent soil and the flat valley floor was difficult, but was actually more conducive to a horticultural lifestyle. He now has plenty of room for a large garden and small mixed orchard, as well as honeybees and hens. It is like a small piece of the Santa Clara Valley in 1970. 

Tony continues his garden writing in order to share his horticultural expertise with anyone who enjoys it. Through his career though, he has also realized that he will always want to be involved with the horticultural industries. He hopes to continue working with local arborists as needed, as well as be a voice in the country for answers for the gardening world at large. 

Tony can be contacted anytime through his website at www.AskTonyTheGardener.com.

Horticulture has always been natural for Tony Tomeo. Before he was old enough to speak, he was conversing and interacting with everything that grew in the garden of his family’s western San Jose home. His favorite childhood toys were small garden tools; a shovel, rake, hoe, and of course, a deluxe Radio Flier wagon to transport all the vegetables from the garden.  

Even as urban sprawl and the electronics industry replaced the last of the once vast orchards of ‘the Valley of Heart’s Delight’, Tony defiantly pursued a career in horticulture. After high school, he left his beloved Santa Clara Valley long enough to attain his degree in horticulture from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Although interested in almost every horticultural industry, Tony enjoyed nursery production most.   

After returning to Los Gatos in 1990, Tony was primarily involved with production of horticultural crops, particularly rhododendrons and associated minor crops at Bay Laurel Nursery of Scotts Valley. Eventually though, increasingly frequent consulting for various tree services and landscape businesses became more demanding than the nursery industry. By 1998, Tony became a professional consulting horticulturist, and International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist.  

In the autumn of 1998, Tony began writing the gardening column for the Silicon Valley Community Newspapers, which consisted of the Los Gatos Weekly Times, the Saratoga News, and the Willow Glen Resident. The column originally appeared every other week, but soon became a weekly feature. The Sunnyvale Sun and the Cupertino Courier were added to the group shortly afterward. Over the years, the Campbell Reporter and a series of ‘Resident’ newspapers for various districts of San Jose were likewise added, so that there are now more than a dozen local newspapers within the Silicon Valley Community Newspapers group carrying his column. The online edition of the San Jose Mercury News also carries most of his article columns as well. 

The gardening column also appeared in the Morgan Hill Times, Gilroy Dispatch and Hollister Freelance. Modified articles have also been published in various trade magazines. Tony’s Garden Report on KSCO in Santa Cruz was broadcast throughout the Monterey Bay Area and most of the San Francisco Bay Area. Various local radio and television broadcasters occasionally interviewed Tony for news topics ranging from ‘sudden oak death syndrome’ to ‘living Christmas trees’.  

Tony recently did a segment for HGTV discussing the various attributes on Rhododendrons that is schedule to air in the spring 2009.    

In August of 2006, Tony relocated into the Santa Cruz Mountains just outside of Los Gatos. Leaving such excellent soil and the flat valley floor was difficult, but was actually more conducive to a horticultural lifestyle. He now has plenty of room for a large garden and small mixed orchard, as well as honeybees and hens. It is like a small piece of the Santa Clara Valley in 1970. 

Tony continues his garden writing in order to share his horticultural expertise with anyone who enjoys it. Through his career though, he has also realized that he will always want to be involved with the horticultural industries. He hopes to continue working with local arborists as needed, as well as be a voice in the country for answers for the gardening world at large. 

Tony can be contacted anytime through his website at www.AskTonyTheGardener.com.