Kristan Johnson enjoys teaching folks how to grow their own fruits, nuts, and berries through lectures and classes. He has designed and built both public parks and private gardens in the Northwest for over forty years, incorporating elements of edible landscaping, permaculture, and wheelchair accessibility. He recently retired as president of WWFRF.

Robert Lane is an active professor emeritus of medical entomology in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley. He has been studying the biology of ticks, and the ecology, epidemiology and prevention of tick-borne disease agents in California for many years.

Natalia Fedorova is a member of Robert Lane’s laboratory and is a graduate of St Petersburg State University in Russia. She currently is conducting molecular epidemiological studies of tick-borne disease agents, especially Lyme disease spirochetes.

Robert D Berka is working on a biography of Luther Burbank. A Stanford journalism graduate more years ago than he would like to remember, he volunteers at Filoli, gardens in Menlo Park, and has long been active in the California Native Plant Society.

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.

Matt Ritter is a professor in the Biology Department and director of the Plant Conservatory at California Polytechnic University, San Louis Obispo. “I want to help people know the trees in their city. Not just see them as green blobs,” says this disciple of street tree diversity. Ritter is the author of A Californian’s Guide to the Trees Among Us (Heyday Books, 2011) and The Plants of San Louis Obispo, Their Lives and Stories (Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2008).  He is the chair of the City of San Luis Obispo Tree Committee, and editor-in-chief of Madroño, the journal of the California Botanical Society.

Richie Steffen is curator of horticulture for the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle, where he manages the rare plant collections and leads the acquisition of new plants. Richie is co-author of The Plant Lover’s Guide to Ferns from Timber Press. He is an active member of numerous horticultural societies in the area and lectures widely about garden-worthy plants.

Ellen Hoffs, for most of her life, was a journalist who gardened. She competed a horticulture program and became a gardener who wrote for publications such as, Horticulture magazine and the Los Angeles Times. She is currently Assistant Editor and Director of Marketing, Marymount Institute Press and Tsehai Publishers, Loyola Marymount University.

Chris Carmichael is associate director of collections and horticulture at the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley. He currently serves as chair of the North American Plant Collections Consortium (NAPCC) of the American Public Gardens Association. Chris gardens in Oakland, where he particularly enjoys growing ferns and palms.

Frederique Lavoipierre is the creator and author of “Garden Allies,” a series that ran for 10 years in Pacific Horticulture magazine. She also teaches classes and workshops on sustainable landscaping, including ecological principles, habitat gardens, beneficial insects, soil ecology, freshwater ecology, and aquatic invertebrates. Follow her on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/Garden.Allies.

Nan Sterman is a botanist and educator who is dedicated to helping people garden successfully in California’s dry, Mediterranean climate. Nan designs gardens, speaks to groups around the country, and leads international garden tours. Her public TV program A Growing Passionconnects people, plants, and the planet. Nan has authored three gardening books and founded the San Diego Gardener Facebook group which serves thousands of members across Southern California. Nan Sterman’s Garden School offers a monthly membership as well as stand-alone classes.

Lee Neff is a garden writer and occasional contributor to Pacific Horticulture. She lives and gardens in Kingston, Washington, where she is active with the Flotsam and Jetsam Garden Club and the Northwest Horticultural Society. Her husband John M Neff, MD, is director of the Center for Children with Special Needs at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Both Lee and John have been enthusiastic supporters of the Seattle Children’s PlayGarden.

Marie Barnidge-McIntyre is the staff horticulturist for Rancho Los Cerritos in Long Beach, California, and did the majority of the research on trees for the restoration of the historic orchard there. She also operates Gardens by Design, a consulting firm, from her home in Thousand Oaks, California.

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.