INSTANTHEDGE® - Key Persons
Brent Markus founded InstantHedge in 2012. Brent's passion for landscape design and horticulture began when he was a teenager, exploring the Chicago Botanic Garden on weekends and designing his family's garden with four-season color and unique conifers. Since then, Brent's landscape designs have been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, Fine Gardening, and Garden Conservancy Open Days.
Brent studied landscape architecture at Cornell University and received a Master's degree in Horticulture, also from Cornell. While studying and researching plant hardiness at Cornell, Brent's passion expanded from landscape design to plant propagation and the nursery industry. Brent opened his first tree nursery, Rare Tree Nursery, in Oregon, where he specializes in growing and distributing unique, ornamental conifers and maples to garden centers and landscapers throughout the United States. A related direct-to-consumer nursery, Conifer Kingdom, was launched in 2012.
Assistant Nursery Manager Esperanza is a keen observer with an eye for horticultural beauty. These are very important skills in the many roles she has assumed over the years, including pruning the hedges and pulling and quality-checking orders.
Nursery Manager Lalo brings 25 years of nursery management experience to InstantHedge. He keeps our hedges in pristine condition throughout the growing cycle using his wealth of knowledge and careful attention to detail.
Marketing Sam began working in the nursery industry at the age of 18. He has attained a high level of horticultural expertise simply through passionately studying plants. His roles include special projects, sales, customer service, and marketing.
Marketing Stephanie earned a BS in Horticulture from Oregon State University and has been working in the nursery industry ever since. She handles sales, marketing, and customer service. Have questions? Give her a call or schedule a nursery tour.