Kelly McManus Chauvin is an ecologist and science communicator based in San Francisco. She holds a PhD in Earth System Science from Stanford University.

Melissa Keyser is a naturalist, urban homesteader, and garden designer. Growing up in the Santa Cruz Mountains without electricity, she cultivated a love for the natural world at an early age. She is passionate about living in harmony with the earth, DIY projects, and strives to raise as much food as possible in her tiny backyard. Currently living in Sacramento, Melissa writes about connecting with nature and living in harmony with the seasons at www.melissakeyser.com.

Barbara Eisenstein is a native plant gardener, horticulturist, and writer. Her recent book, Wild Suburbia – Learning to Garden with Native Plants, guides new and experienced gardeners on a journey toward sustainable, habitat gardening. Barbara is research associate at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, horticulture chair for the San Gabriel Mountains Chapter of CNPS, and founder and organizer of Friends of South Pasadena Nature Park. Her home garden has been featured on the Theodore Payne Garden Tour. www.weedingwildsuburbia.com

Susan Lenman Gottlieb is an environmentalist and philanthropist with a passion for native plants and wildlife. Originally from a small mining town in Canada, Susan graduated from the Mack Training School for Nurses in Ontario before working as a nurse for many years in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In 1990, she turned her focus towards creating the renowned Gottlieb Native Garden, which is now a National Wildlife Federation-certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat and a Xerces Society-designated Pollinator Habitat. Susan is on the President’s Advisory Council for National Wildlife Federation and the Board of Directors of Friends of Ballona Wetlands, as well as Audubon California. In 2008, she and her husband Dan started The G2 Gallery, a nature and wildlife photography gallery in Venice, California that donates all proceeds of art sales to environmental causes.

Mallory Smith is a freelance writer and editor specializing in environmental, social justice and healthcare-related communications. She graduated from Stanford University in 2014 with a B.A. in human biology and a concentration in environmental anthropology. Previously, Mallory worked as a senior producer at Green Grid Radio, the environmental storytelling radio show and podcast that aired on KZSU Stanford 90.1 FM in the Bay Area. Her radio work has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered (for KCRW, LA’s NPR affiliate), National Radio Project, and State of the Human.

Ryan Tuttle is an adventure, lifestyle, and music photographer located on the Central Coast of California. She specializes in creating images for people and brands that live adventurously, believe in authentic, genuine moments, and who want to tell a story. www.ryantuttlephotography.com www.instagram.com/ryantuttlephoto

Clare Al-Witri is a professional gardener. Clare has gardened on both the East and West Coasts in public gardens including Wave Hill and Heronswood. She currently works at the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley where she cares for the Australasian and California collections.

Ann Northrup spent her undergraduate years at the University of Michigan, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in microbiology. Her interest in plant pathology started there, but she took a five-year diversion to work in the field of medical diagnostics at Bio Rad Labs in Richmond, California, and another two years as a molecular biology research assistant at UC Irvine. Returning to plant pathology, Ann earned a master’s degree UC Berkeley. She has worked primarily in disease diagnostics of ornamental plants, first with Soil and Plant Lab in Orange, California, and then with Nurserymen’s Exchange in Half Moon Bay.

Ann currently consults privately in plant pathology and arboriculture and teaches horticulture classes at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills and Merritt College in Oakland. One of her professional pleasures is volunteering at the Sick Plant Clinic. She is also an active volunteer in the UCCE Master Gardener program for Santa Clara County. In her spare time, she enjoys playing her flute in a woodwind quintet in Saratoga and with the Saratoga Community Band conducted by her husband. And of course … she gardens.

Saxon Holt is a professional garden photographer who contributes regularly to Pacific Horticulture and is widely published in books such as Hardy Succulents, The American Meadow Garden, and Plants and Landscapes for the Summer-Dry Climates of the San Francisco Bay Area. Saxon lives and gardens in Novato, California and is a member of the PHS board of directors. www.photobotanic.com

EARL NICKEL is an Oakland-based horticulturist, writer, and photographer. He writes a weekly column for the San Francisco Chronicle profiling garden-worthy plants and has contributed feature articles to Pacific Horticulture, Fine Gardening, and various Bay Area newspapers. Erle maintains a large and varied garden and blogs for Annie’s Annuals and at www.normsnursery.blogspot.com.

Lorene Edwards Forkner lives and gardens in Seattle where she pursues a good and delicious life filled with family and friends together with all things horticultural, believing that the really good part is in the blending of one’s passions.

Lorene is the author of five garden books including Hortus Miscellaneous (Sasquatch Books), Handmade Garden Projects, and The Timber Press Guide Vegetable Gardening: Pacific Northwest. Lorene is also the author of the newly released “Color In and Out of the Garden,” Abrams Books, 2022. Follow along at ahandmadegarden.com. She was the editor of Pacific Horticulture from 2012-2019.