Judith M Taylor, a retired Oxford-trained neurologist, now practices history without a license in San Francisco. She has published several books, most recently The Global Migrations of Ornamental Plants: How the World Got into Your Garden (2009). The begonia story is part of a future book on plant breeders and their obsessions.

Dan Heims is the president and guiding spirit behind Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc, a company noted for its new introductions to horticulture, including selections of Heucheras and their kin, Echinacea, Coreopsis, and Pulmonaria. Based in Canby, Oregon, he travels the world to find new plants, lectures widely, and is the author of Heucheras and Heucherellas (Timber Press, 2005).

Pria Graves is a botanical artist who frequently depicts the heirloom fruits and flowers growing in her Palo Alto garden. The large oak she shares with neighbors is alive with birds and squirrels and has given her a first-hand opportunity to observe the oak’s importance in our environment.

Bart O’Brien is one of Southern California’s most highly respected native plant specialists and co-author with David Fross and Carol Bornstein of California Native Plants for the Garden (Cachuma Press, 2006). Bart is director of special projects at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont.

LINDA BEUTLER is a fearless gardener who grows a great variety of plants on a city lot in Portland, Oregon. Linda has been the curator of the Rogerson Clematis Collection at Luscher Farm since 2007, was elected president of the International Clematis Society in 2013, and has taught horticulture at Clackamas Community College for more than 16 years. She is the author of Gardening with Clematis: Design and Cultivation and Garden to Vase: Growing and Using Your Own Cut Flowers (both Timber Press). Her novel, The Red Chrysanthemum, was published by Meryton Press in 2013.

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.

William Grant is a garden writer and photographer based in Aptos, California, where he maintains an extensive collection of roses and other plants. An avid rosarian, he lectures around the world on his favorite subject, was a consultant for Botanica’s Roses, and edited the paperback edition.