Nancy Carol Carter, Legal Research Center director and law professor at the University of San Diego, researches horticultural history as a hobby and as a San Diego Historical Society Research Library volunteer. She is currently compiling a definitive bibliography on San Diego horticultural legend, Kate Olivia Sessions.

Mary Robson is coauthor with Debra Prinzing of the Washington & Oregon Gardeners’ Guide (Cool Springs Press, 2005). Mary authors “The Practical Gardener” column for The Seattle Times.

Carol and Barrie Coate are a dynamic husband and wife team of horticulturists. Barrie worked for many years for the Saratoga Horticultural Research Foundation and is now a highly respected arborist in private practice. Carol continues to serve on the board of directors of the Foundation. Together, they have created a stunning garden in the mountains southwest of San Jose, California.

Katharine Cook studied French Intensive Biodynamic gardening with Alan Chadwick and is one of the founders of the present Green Gulch Garden at the Zen Center in Marin County. She now adapts Chadwick’s methods to residential gardens in the Bay Area and is a passionate advocate for the integration of home garden design with the goals of watershed restoration.

Susi Torre-Bueno is president of the San Diego Horticultural Society and serves on the board of the Pacific Horticultural Foundation. A passionate gardener since the third grade, when she grew her first radish from seed, her former two-acre Encinitas garden was featured in numerous magazine articles and on HGTV. She is now designing a low-water garden for her new home in Vista.

Debra Prinzing is an award-winning author, speaker, and a leading advocate for American-grown flowers. She is the creator of Slowflowers.com, a free online directory that helps consumers find florists, designers, studios, and farms that supply American grown flowers. Debra is the producer and host of the Slow Flowers Podcast with Debra Prinzing, which is available for free download on iTunes or at www.debraprinzing.com.

Nathan Smith is a horticulturist for the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, where he is responsible for maintaining the California Native Garden. When not gardening, he enjoys writing, garden design, surfing, and hiking in the state’s botanical wonderlands.

Carolyn Jones is the director of the Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle, where she is also in charge of the Great Plant Picks program. She worked for many years at the VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver, British Columbia, is a horticultural technical editor, and is the author of two books and numerous magazine articles.

Mary Wilbur, a native of Wales, worked in the field of psychiatric care, and has gardened in England and New York. She is now active with the Greater Trinidad Garden Club in Trinidad, California, where she has lived and gardened for more than a decade.

Richard G Turner Jr is the editor emeritus of Pacific Horticulture. After receiving degrees in architecture and landscape architecture from the University of Michigan more than thirty years ago, he escaped to California, where he has worked in the fields of garden design, public garden education and administration, and garden publishing. His small, chemical-free San Francisco garden provides habitat for wildlife while serving as a test ground for mediterranean-climate plants.

Mary Lynn Cox was an elementary school music teacher for many years before taking up garden design and building a practice on the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay. She recently moved from her home of many decades to a retirement community in Oakland, where she continues to enjoy gardening. She has served on the board of Pacific Horticultural Foundation for many years.

Carol and Barrie Coate are a dynamic husband and wife team of horticulturists. Barrie worked for many years for the Saratoga Horticultural Research Foundation and is now a highly respected arborist in private practice. Carol continues to serve on the board of directors of the Foundation. Together, they have created a stunning garden in the mountains southwest of San Jose, California.