Virginia Hayes

Virginia Hayes is Curator of the Living Collection at Ganna Walska Lotusland in Santa Barbara, California, where she is responsible for maintaining plant records for the extensive plant collections. Virginia holds a Master’s degree from University California Santa Barbara where she did research on the unique floral characters of lotuses (Nelumbo nucifera) and their variation among wild populations. She writes a popular gardening column for the Santa Barbara Independent and contributes to other California and national publications.


Gordon Frankie

Dr Gordon Frankie, a professor in UC Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, is writing a field guide to the native bees of California.


Robbin Thorp

Robbin Thorp, professor emeritus in UC Davis’s Department of Entomology, who also identifies all bees collected in the statewide survey.


Steve Brigham

Steve Brigham and his wife Donna are the proprietors of Buena Creek Gardens, located in San Marcos in northern San Diego County. Steve is a founder of the San Diego Horticultural Society. Both have been active in the nursery industry in California for several decades.


Mary Wilbur

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

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.