James A. "Ciscoe" Morris is an American gardening expert, TV and radio personality, and author based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. He is known locally for his TV and radio programs "Gardening with Ciscoe," as well as his enthusiastic demeanor and catchphrase "Oh la la!" Previously, he wrote articles about gardening for the ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. Th ...

'' before it ceased print operations and in ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'' before leaving to focus on his next book.

Biography

Ciscoe Morris was born in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, to Robert Graham Morris (1909 - 2002) an Insurance Salesman and purported

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

performer, and Sarah A. "Sally" Reichhardt (1917 - 2014). He began gardening with his mother and grandmother and by age 10, was working professionally as a gardener for a local church. In 1972, he hitchhiked to

and began working on a fishing boat. He later got a job at Seattle City Light in Newhalem and studied horticulture at South Seattle Community College. In 1980, Morris began working at Seattle University where he introduced the use of beneficial insects rather than

pesticides Pesticides are substances that are used to pest control, control pest (organism), pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for a ...

. Morris' media career began in the 1980s by filling-in as the host of a gardening question-and-answer radio show on KIRO after joining radio host Jim French on his show. Later that decade his TV career took-off on the

KIRO-TV KIRO-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with CBS and Telemundo. Owned by Cox Media Group, the station maintains studios on Third Avenue in the Belltown, Seattle, Belltown section of Downtown ...

program "Northwest Home and Garden Show", hosted by

Jeff Probst Jeffrey Lee Probst (; born November 4, 1961) is an American television presenter and producer and young adult fiction writer. He is best known as the Emmy Awards, Emmy Award–winning host of the American version of the reality television show ' ...

. In 2017, clips of Morris were featured in a segment on ''

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' (often abridged as ''Last Week Tonight'') is an American news satire late-night talk show hosted by comedian John Oliver. The half-hour-long show premiered in the end of April 2014 on HBO and currently has ...

'' titled "You wish you loved anything as much as Seattle gardening expert Ciscoe Morris loves everything."

Published works

*''Ask Ciscoe: Oh, la, la ! Your Gardening Questions Answered.'' Seattle: Sasquatch Books (2006). *''Oh, La La! Homegrown Stories, Helpful Tips, and Garden Wisdom.'' Seattle: Sasquatch Books (2020).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Ciscoe Living people American gardeners American garden writers Radio personalities from Seattle Year of birth missing (living people) People from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin