Our Writers

Taimi Anderson is a landscape architect and freelance garden writer. She gardens at Villa Corniolo in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Dick Bir is a horticulturist and conservationist as well as faculty emeritus from the Department of Horticultural Science at NC State University. He has published hundreds of articles, HGTV to Horticulture, American Nurseryman to American Gardener, as well as presented hundreds of invited lectures. Dick has received many awards from conservation, education, gardening and green industry groups including the 2006 Scott Medal from Swarthmore College and 2007 Balantine Award from the Southeastern Flower Show.

Dick was one of the pioneers of the current native plants education and research revival including the native plants conference at Cullowhee and writing Growing and Propagating Showy Native Woody Plants. He believes beautiful gardens are possible for anyone if we want them and have the right teachers.

Toby Bost is co-author of The Carolinas Gardener's Guide and is a consulting horticulturist in Winston-Salem, N.C. Bost retired from N.C. State University Extension Service after 31 years as a county extension agent, and has gardened in all three North Carolina regions.

Kelly Bledsoe is a writer and photographer for the Denton Orator, and gardens in Denton, N.C.

Andy Cabe is the botanical garden director at Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Garden in Columbia, S.C.

Meaghan Clark is a freelance writer in Charlotte, N.C. A somewhat recent transplant from Canada, she takes great joy in being able to garden practically year round, and has been enthralled at her neighbors' pursuits.

Rebekah Cowell is a freelance writer in Raleigh, N.C.

Clara A. Curtis is the director of design at the North Carolina Arboretum, and gardens at her home in Haywood County.

Millie W. Davenport is an extension agent associate at the Home & Garden Information Center with Clemson University.

Barbara Fair, PhD, is the landscape extension specialist with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension.

Charlotte Glen is the horticultural extension agent for Pender County, N.C.

PJ Gartin has tended the same Charleston, S.C., garden for more than 20 years. She is a freelance writer and the author of two gardening books.

Erik Healey is a student of horticulture at Clemson University. He also owns a landscape design and installation business.

Jack Horan is a writer in Charlotte, N.C. and author of Where Nature Reigns: The Wilderness Areas of the Southern Appalachians.

Peter Loewer is one of the most prolific garden writers and illustrators in the Southeast. To date, he has written 34 books and provided illustrations to literally hundreds more. His book, The Wild Gardener, was named one of the best 75 gardening books of the twentieth century by the American Horticultural Society, while some of his drawings are in the permanent collections of The Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon University. Alumni of Carolina Gardener events are also familiar with Peter's plant knowledge and quick wit, and we'll be welcoming him back to the stage during our 2006 Symposium in Asheville. Having moved to the region from New York many years ago, Peter has become a consummate plantsman on all things green and growing in the Southeast. He now lives in Asheville, N.C., with his wife, Jean, and kitty-cats, Kubin and Willow. You can visit his website at www.thewildgardener.com.

Rekha Morris is an art historian, plant explorer and horticultural writer who has written for a number of horticultural journals such as the Rock Garden Quarterly, and American Gardener, and is a long time contributor to Carolina Gardener and to The Begonian. She has a woodland garden in Pendleton, S.C., where she experiments with shade-tolerant species from around the world. These grow side-by-side with her growing collection of native plants, many of which she has rescued [with permission] from sites slated for development. This woodland garden combining native and exotic plants was featured in the American Gardener [2001]. She currently travels frequently to document species begonias in the eastern branch of the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico, as well as the eastern Himalayan region of India on the borders of China. Her lectures appearances in the USA on species begonias include the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, Miami, Los Angeles, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, and Ballarat and Melbourne, Australia. She spoke on Species Begonias at the American Begonia Society in Houston in May 2008.

Karen Neill is a horticulture extension agent for Guilford County, N.C.

Rita Pelczar received her B. S. and M. S. degrees in horticulture from the University of Maryland. Throughout her career as extension agent, Peace Corps volunteer, teacher, public garden director, and associate editor of The American Gardener magazine, she has shared her enthusiasm for and commitment to environmentally responsible gardening. Her articles have appeared in The American Gardener, Horticulture, National Gardening, Fine Gardening, Flower and Garden, The Herb Companion, Mother Earth News, Organic Gardening, and The Carolina Gardener; she has also contributed to several books. She and her husband recently moved to a small mountain farm in Madison County, NC, where they grow a variety of ornamental and edible plants, including organic hops.

Gary Pierce writes a weekly column called Ask the Hort Agent. He is currently a Horticulture Extension Agent in Harnett County, N.C.

Barbara Sullivan is a garden writer, photographer, designer and lecturer. She is the author of Garden Perennials for the Coastal South (UNC Press, 2003) a guide to gardening along the Southeast and Gulf Coasts. She travels throughout the area giving presentations on the perils and pleasures of coastal gardening. She is a member of the Garden Writers Association of America and winner of one of their Golden Globe awards. She has broadcast garden commentaries on public radio station WHQR-FM for the past seven years. In addition to designing the garden for the Minnie Evans tribute at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, N.C., she has also served on the board of the New Hanover County Arboretum in Wilmington. Barbara is the mother of two grown children and lives in Wilmington with her husband, Michael and their dog, Oscar.

Bobby J. Ward, an environmental scientist, botanist, gardener and writer, lives and gardens in Raleigh, N.C.

Keith Wood is a horticulture agent for Cherokee County Cooperative Extension Center and Cherokee County Master Gardeners.

Helen Yoest of Raleigh, N.C., is a garden writer and owner of Gardening With Confidence. Follow her blog at http://gardeningwithconfidence.com/blog.