Carolyn Doepke Bennett, a writer and lecturer on garden conservation and garden design, is actively involved with The Garden Conservancy and serves as a Trustee of The Los Angeles County Arboretum Foundation. A landscape historian on the staff of Nancy Goslee Power & Associates, she also coordinates the Barn Studio Lecture Series.

Michael Curto is a senior research associate of the Earth and Soil Sciences Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Over the past three decades, his interests and experience have focused on the systematics, geography, and ecology of western North American grasses.

Demitra Bowles Lathrop holds a degree in English literature from University of California at Berkeley. She has served as editor and contributor to various arts, design, and literary publications. She lives and gardens in San Francisco, where she is active with a number of philanthropic groups.

Alan Porter retired in 2003 from a law practice emphasizing conservation easements and estate planning and now serves as coordinator of the volunteer plant propagation program at the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley; the group propagates plants from the garden’s extensive collections for sale to the public.

Kerry A Morris, a board member of the Southern California Horticulture Society, lives in the San Fernando Valley in the Los Angeles area. She is an avid gardener and has a great interest in salvias, perennials, and California natives.

Gillian Garro is a principal in the Oakland landscape design/build firm of Larman/ Garro. Additionally, she is chair of the Oakland Parks Coalition, a group working for improved stewardship of Oakland’s parks and natural areas.

Carol Johanson, a native of Seattle, moved with her hus-band and son to an undeveloped waterfront property on Bainbridge Island in 1988. A number of years later, she retired from careers in banking and teaching to devote full time to developing her ever-expanding garden.

Christine Allen, author of Roses for the Pacific North-west (Steller Press, 1999), is a writer for GardenWise magazine and other international publications. A member of the Great Plant Picks selection committee, she lives at Killara Farm in Langley, BC, where she grows roses and perennials; her roses are for sale at Free Spirit Nursery in Langley.