About Robbin Small
Robbin has been in and around the horticultural industry for nearly 30 years and has hands-on gardening experience in five diverse gardening zones of the United States as well as the northeast of Scotland and Cornwall, in the Southwest of England. Her family settled in the Puget Sound area in the early 2000s, where gardening is accessible 12 months of the year and good coffee is never out of reach. Robbin has been a Washington State University Master Gardener volunteer for her local County Extension since 2008, teaching her community sustainable gardening techniques not only for food crops but for ornamental garden areas as well. Beginning in 2022, she joined the writing team for Plant Addicts, which she feels is another great outlet for her to continue discussing not only the hottest and best new plant varieties but how to approach home gardening in a sustainable manner that benefits people and the planet.
Education and Certifications
Bachelor of Liberal Arts with a focus in German Language and Culture and Northern European Art History - University of Minnesota Twin Cities
The Royal Horticultural Society Certificate in Ornamental Horticulture - Duchy College Rosewarne, Cornwall UK
WSU Master Gardener of the Year for Kitsap County 2011
Expertise
Favorite Plants
Although Robbin’s list of favorite plants changes with the season, they have one thing in common: at least three, and preferably four, seasons of interest. Plants with interesting seedheads, flowers late in the fall and winter, gorgeous bark patterns, and strong winter silhouettes all make the final cut. She also appreciates native plants that support backyard wildlife and tropical houseplants that like to vacation on the patio in the summer. Ninebark shrubs have it all going on. The foliage color is interesting and often fiery in the fall, they attract beneficial pollinators in droves while in bloom, and the bark of mature specimens truly is multicolored and very visible after leaf drop in the autumn.