Laurel has a degree in wildlife biology from Oregon State University and a degree in systematics and ecology from Indiana State University. Laurel taught biology at Roosevelt University in Chicago. She also worked as a mammalogist at the New York Zoological Society (Bronx Zoo) and at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. She is a former National Landscape Design Critic (Florida Garden Club) and Florida Master Gardener. She is currently completing the Florida Master Naturalist program.

Since she moved to Venice, Florida, fourteen years ago, Laurel's interests have been channeled into preserving the natural environment. She is vice-president of the Florida Native Nursery Association and chair of the State Education Committee for the Association. She serves on the board of directors for the Friends of the Rails to Trails Park in Sarasota and is a member of the Sarasota Tree Advisory Council. She is immediate past president of the Friends of Oscar Scherer Park, Inc. Laurel is serving a second term as a Sarasota County Planning Commissioner.

Laurel designs native plantings for natural areas for homeowners as well as homeowner associations. She specializes in native plant restoration and mitigation work and enjoys creating wildlife habitat. She has worked on native plant designs for numerous school sites and for state, county, and city lands.

Laurel is on the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens' Speaker's Bureau. Laurel presents programs and seminars on Florida native plants and natural Florida landscaping to groups and societies throughout Southwest Florida. With her partner, Dan Walton, Laurel has written Natural Florida Landscaping published by Pineapple Press and available April 2007.

Dan is a Chemical Engineering graduate of the University of Delaware and has a Ph.D. in plant physiology from the State University of New York at Syracuse. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas, Plant Research Institute. He initially worked for the du Pont CO. in Technical & Economic studies. After obtaining a PhD he moved into the academic profession at the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, where as professor in the departments of Chemistry & Biology, he taught and did research on seed germination and hormone biochemistry. He is a former master gardener,served on the Sarasota Park and Recreation Board and was an adjunct member of the Environmental Horticulture department at the University of Florida.