A Tribute to our Retiring 
Board Members

One of the great rewards of serving on a board of directors for an organization in whose mission you believe is the caliber of people you have the honor of working with. In my six years on the board of the Pacific Horticulture, this last as President, I’ve met some wonderful people whose hearts, heads, and hands are at work in an astounding number of dimensions to promote the power of horticulture and gardens in this world.

I met Sairus Patel (Palo Alto, California) at my first meeting after joining the board in 2013 when I was paired with him for a group building activity in which we had to discover something about each other that no one else there knew? Sairus shared that as a boy he’d performed a musical number on Radio India, which to this day infuses my understanding of him with an exotic flair. What is no secret to his fellow board members, is Sairus’ deeply considered intelligence and careful attention to detail. A life-long tree enthusiast and passionate gardener, Sairus was guest co-editor for the widely respected Urban Canopy issue of Pacific Horticulture in 2015. And for more than seven years he has provided volunteer editorial support by researching plant names and b...