From August 2021
If you’ve been active as a Master Gardener for the past several years, you’ve undoubtedly met Paul so this isn’t so much an introduction……more a peek into the life behind the smile.
Born in Ruislip, England, due to his father serving in the U.S. Air Force, Paul is the oldest of four children. Paul’s Mom always managed to have a small garden, as many people did at the time, so his exposure to the beauty of flowers started very early. Paul reminisced a bit about his earliest memories of flowers that likely fueled his lifelong love affair with them. “One of my earliest plant memories was from my childhood living on a Royal Air Force base in Uxbridge, England, not far from London. Near our house was a pile of rubble with visible foundations from the buildings that once stood there. It was my favorite place to play as a boy, and I still remember the untended lupine in full bloom, springing up from the bricks and rock, most likely left behind from an occupant’s victory garden. The thought of flowers pushing up through the rubble and delighting a young boy has stayed with me for forty years.”
At the age of 10 the family was relocated to Albuquerque, NM. Paul recalls thinking he had lost his sense of smell. Because of the dry climate, smells were harder to detect than in the damp climate of England. Paul’s Mom was finally able to have a substantial garden and eventually a floral business…..runs in the family, apparently! Fast forward a few years to high school where Paul grew and hybridized tall bearded iris in his back yard. In his early 20s, he found ways to grow potted plants in his apartments with dreams of a future garden.
Paul and his partner, Tom Osborne, stumbled across the Gorge area while driving back to San Francisco, after a trip to Unity, OR to view the solar eclipse. They had arrived at their AirBnB, in Parkdale, after dark, so did not see the view of Mt. Hood until the next morning. The rest is history, apparently. Paul finally agreed with Tom, that “…. this is a place I could see myself living.” Tom has family in Oregon which he’d wanted to live closer to for a while, so finding a place that satisfied Pauls’ yearning to garden was the icing on the cake!
Paul became a UC certified Master Gardener in 2015 and immediately recertified in Oregon when he, relocated here. “Many years ago, a wise older friend told me that the secret to feeling young is to always be learning something. I particularly enjoy how much I’ve learned while serving as a Master Gardener, and just as important, being reminded often of how much I still have to learn.” Apparently that education is serving him well. Paul’s business, Apple Core Farm, is a delight to behold! (check out the website at https://www.applecorefarm.com )Paul is like a giddy child walking around the property and talking about the flowers he nurtures. I think he sums it up quite nicely “I couldn’t be happier than spending my days thinking about, growing, and sharing what I love with all my heart. I hope my flowers bring as much joy to others as they bring me.”
In closing I asked Paul if there was something about him that might surprise us about him. He quickly shared this little bit: “I arrived in the U.S. at the age of 10 with a full-on Brideshead Revisited accent. Of my siblings, I was the last to lose my accent, which persisted into my 20s and then gradually “migrated” westward as I aged; first sounding like I was from Boston, then somewhere in the Midwest, and finally landing in the Rockies. You can still detect an accent when I say words like water and hawk but I’m otherwise fully American. One thing I never lost: English primary school stressed enunciation, and to this day, I pronounce every word……Even after my second glass of wine!”
Now we all know a little more about Paul Matalucci. In my opinion, I don’t think the man has ever met a stranger, so please don’t hesitate to say hello….you’ll be glad you did!
Submitted by Jewel McKenzie
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