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Ms. Neal is the owner of Green Gardens Education and Designs. Prior to that, she was a biologist at Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta for over 30 years. She retired in 2017. Ms. Neal areas of expertise are composting, vermicomposting, ornithology, environmental education, establishing outdoor classrooms and wildlife gardens and educating the public about the wonders of monarchs. She has a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in science education with an emphasis in animal behavior. In 2015 Ms. Neal received the Outstanding Biology Teacher Award for Georgia from the National Association of Biology Teacher in recognition of her career’s work in environmental education.
Ms. Neal was also the project director for the School Master Gardener program that trained over 300 Master Gardeners from 50 different schools across DeKalb County. Since 2003 these participants have volunteered over 50,000 hours at their local schoolhouses with over 35,000 students. Numerous Junior Master Gardener Clubs were formed in the local schoolhouses. This program also brought in over $63,461 in grant money at the local schools to support these school outdoor classrooms.
Upon retirement, she realized that her depth of knowledge offered an opportunity to help homeowners transition from a traditional lawn yard to a landscape that welcomes wildlife and pollinators with native plants. This type of landscape is critical in protecting threatened species and establishing a healthy ecosystem for humans and wildlife. Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home, says “Gardening is a way of showing you believe in tomorrow”. Based on this belief, Ms. Neal formed an LLC called Green Gardens Education and Designs (GGED) and works with homeowners to make their residence a part of the solution, instead of it being part of the problem. When a customer works with GGED, they can expect a design that uses over thirty years of knowledge and experience and takes into consideration how a space is utilized by both humans and wildlife. This design will transform the landscape into both an aesthetically pleasing space and a space that is a part of the solution to the problems our earth is currently facing. By connecting yards and habitats, homeowners can actively work to offset their carbon footprints and support species that are struggling.