Everyday People: Biology instructor shares her green thumb

Nichole Warwick, a biology instructor at Clatsop Community College, does more than teach about human biology, physiology, anatomy, microbiology and animal behavior.

Outside the classroom, Warwick shares information about the diagnosis and spread of plant diseases in online gardening support groups. She also grows dahlias through Wild Horse Gardens and sells the dahlia tubers online.

Nichole Warwick

Nichole Warwick is a biology instructor at Clatsop Community College.

“I’ve always enjoyed gardening. My mom told me that she always thought that I should be a botanist. I really didn’t care about the nerdy science stuff, I just wanted to grow the things and have the pretty flowers,” she said.

Warwick, who is originally from Northern California, began her journey at Clatsop Community College in 2007. She has always kept gardening and dahlias close to her heart. She was introduced to gardening through family members, including her aunt from Camas, Washington, who was known for her green thumb.

“My aunt, Evelyn Spellman, she had a very large garden that she maintained until she was 85 or 86. And (had) just beautiful flowers and wonderful vegetables and berries, and sort of helped raise food for the kitchen table,” Warwick said.

Her love of dahlias led her to scour academic articles to find information on dahlia diseases. She has been asked to share her research and knowledge by the American Dahlia Society, the United Kingdom’s National Dahlia Society and by “dahlia addicts” around the globe.

“It came to my attention that there’s a couple of diseases that are really common in dahlias. And I saw some people giving just terrible advice,” she said.

Dahlias — a perennial plant native to Mexico and Central America — are known for their bright, colorful flowers and edible tubers. The ability to turn tubers into various dishes is highlighted on her Wild Horse Gardens website, where readers can find observations from an experiment to create dahlia bread.

Earlier this month, Warwick presented her findings on dahlias at Fort George Brewery’s Ales & Ideas lecture series in Astoria. She hopes sharing her findings will help people think about what diseases are impacting their gardens, and to “empower them to have tough love with that plant that doesn’t quite look right. And maybe empower them to have healthier gardens.”

In her free time, Warwick can be found growing plants and vegetables in her garden. Like her aunt, she tries to incorporate her own vegetables into the family’s diet — including tomatoes — which are loved by her son.

“I’ve had my current garden for 10 years ... and it just keeps getting bigger,” she said.

Warwick also grows dahlias for the Wild Horse Gardens nursery, which is done on her property. With some help from her daughter, she sells the dahlias online across the country and locally through her Facebook group “Clatsop and Pacific County Dahlia Divas.”

“I’ve done a lot of work in our local communities to try to connect dahlia growers. Part of that has involved a tuber swap in the spring. So, myself and another gal named Jessica Megowan have rented out the Wickiup Grange out in Svensen. And hosted essentially an opportunity for people in the community to come together and swap (dahlia) tubers, buy tubers and buy different plants,” she said.