The Team

Kristen Miskelly, Co-Owner 

Kristen co-founded Satinflower Nurseries: Native Plants, Seeds & Consulting, a native plant nursery and consulting business in Victoria, British Columbia. The nursery inspires and empowers people to connect with nature through native plants. Kristen is a biologist passionate about native plants, ecology, ecosystem restoration, and native plant propagation. Her undergraduate work focused on grass taxonomy, and she completed her master’s in paleoecology at the University of Victoria, where she studied the preglacial flora of southern Vancouver Island. Over the past couple of decades, her work has focused on the Prairie-Oak ecosystems of Southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. Kristen is a steering committee member of the Cascadia Prairie Oak Partnership and a sessional lecturer at the University of Victoria in Biology and the School of Environmental Studies. Kristen continues to provide ecological consultation to various agencies and groups and teaches courses and workshops on native plants, propagation, and local ecology regularly.

James Miskelly, Co-Owner 

James Miskelly is a biologist with expertise in Garry oak ecosystems, plants, insects, and restoration. James completed a Master of Science in Biology from the University of Victoria in 2004 focusing on butterflies and their habitat needs.  James has worked in various capacities specializing on rare plants and animals. He is a research associate at the Royal BC Museum in entomology with a particular interest in Canadian Orthoptera (crickets, grasshoppers, and katydids). Currently, James works full time with Natural Resources Canada, helping to conserve and restore habitats and rare species on federal DND lands. James helps continually with consulting aspects of the nursery and managing the native seed fields as well as developing specialized seed mixes for customers.  

 Abby Hyde, Orders & Public Outreach

Abby started at Satinflower Nurseries in 2021. She is a plant enthusiast and is eager to help find each plant a loving home no matter how big or small the project is. She discovered her passion for observing endemic species and restoring degraded ecosystems through her years of hiking and scuba diving while growing up in Bali, Indonesia. She made the long move from Indonesia to Victoria in 2016 to pursue a BSc in Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. During her four-year program, her love for tropical and aquatic plants translated to a newfound love of the native plants of British Columbia. In Abby’s free time she loves to observe Garry Oak ecosystems that have been restored around her neighborhood in Victoria, as it gives her hope for the future, and being involved with an organization that facilitates that movement is a dream come true. 

Andrea Simmonds, Customer Care & Residential Consults

Andrea has been part of the nursery team since 2017 and is an integral part of the nursery’s day to day. She has exceptional people skills and brings her attentive and thoughtful approach to every nursery project. She has wide-ranging interests from art, travel, culture to biology, farming, and plants and holds her BA in Liberal Arts with Honours in Visual Art.  Andrea brings so much to our nursery team with her caring and hard-working nature and her artful eye and love for garden design. When not at the nursery she will be found painting nature scenes.

Daniela Toriola-Lafuente, Seed Orders & Packing

Daniela moved to Victoria in 2012 and has worked with Satinflower Nurseries since 2014. She obtained her BSc in Natural Sciences at the University of Lausanne and her PhD in Tropical Forest Ecology at University of Paris VI. She balances work life with volunteering at the Royal BC Museum herbarium, being a mother to two children, and enhancing her two-acre property in Metchosin with native plants. She loves propagating native plants and experiences great pleasure knowing these plants will thereafter thrive elsewhere, reassuring her that her work has a real and positive ecological impact. Daniela takes a lead role in propagating native plants at the nursery and coordinating seed orders and packagaing.

Josh Aitken, Cobble Hill Seed Field

Hailing from rural Australia, Josh joined the Satinflower Nurseries team in 2018 to help care for the native seed field at Fairfield Farm. Growing up working on farms, Josh brings much experience, expertise, ingenuity, and energy to growing native plants for seed. Josh spent several years with Cowichan Search and Rescue and is currently a member of Mill Bay Fire Department. When not working in the field, he can be found running the trails of Vancouver Island in preparation for his next ultra.  

Julia Daly, Customer Care & Written Communication

With Satinflower Nurseries since 2018, Julia has experience in plant identification, species at risk management, ecological restoration, and native plant gardening. She has always been passionate about plants, wildlife, and geography and now shares these interests with her two young children. Julia completed BSc in geography from the University of Victoria in 2012 and a diploma in applied coastal ecology from Northwest Community College in 2008. Julia is one of the friendly faces you will see at the nursery, always offering much-needed advice and guidance. Be sure to check out our weekly blog with Julia!

 Michelle Schlafen-Brown, Propagation 

Michelle is a Certified Horticulture Technician who is passionate about bringing native plants into the broader horticulture scene, as well as bringing lots of love and care to each and every plant we grow. New to the nursery in 2021, Michelle hopes to work with clients to create true west coast gardens. With a focus on garden design and installation, Michelle seeks to demonstrate that a native plant garden can be just as beautiful and exciting as conventional, while being both more resilient and more beneficial to the ecosystem at large. Outside of the horticulture world, Michelle enjoys spending her time gaining inspiration from nature, practicing yoga, and playing her acoustic guitar. Michelle is more than happy to chat plants & landscaping, so come and say hello!

Tommy Grant, Office Manager

Tommy joined the nursery in fall of 2020 and now works as the nurseries office and manager. After a jet-setting career as a CPA auditor, it was time for a big change. His goal was to find meaningful work that will make a positive difference in the world. After rediscovering his love of plants and nature, Tommy became a certified Organic Master Gardener through Gaia College. He knew that plants had captured his heart for good. Tommy brings boundless enthusiasm, a willingness to help, and a smile to the nursery every day. In his free time Tommy enjoys kickboxing, growing vegetables, caring for his many tropical indoor plants, and baking chocolatey treats.