CNPS Expert Horticulture Committee

Carol is Director of the Nature Gardens at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, where she oversees the long-term care and development of this 3.5-acre habitat for urban wildlife. For nearly 30 years, she was horticulturist at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. Bornstein co-authored two books, the national award-winning California Native Plants for the Garden and Reimagining the California Lawn: Water-conserving Plants, Practices, and Designs, both of which champion the benefits of designing gardens in harmony with nature. She continues to advocate for sustainable, regionally appropriate landscaping and to share her knowledge of plants native to California and other Mediterranean and dry-climate regions through her writing, teaching, and design work. She received a B.S. in Botany from the University of Michigan and an M.S. in Horticulture from Michigan State University

Peigi is a landscape designer specializing in native plants and sustainable habitat gardens. She is a certified member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD), a Monterey and San Francisco Bay Friendly Qualified Landscaper, and her drought tolerant and environmentally conscious designs have been seen on varied garden tours. Peigi has taught courses through Stanford Continuing Studies on sustainable landscaping with native plants and has given topical presentations for CNPS, water districts and other organizations throughout the state. From 2004 - 2009 she served as state level volunteer Horticulture Program Director for CNPS and is currently a board member and Co-Horticultural Chair for the Monterey Bay CNPS Chapter. With an educational background in the arts and business, she earned her certificate in Environmental Horticulture and Design from Foothill College. Having grown up in Monterey, Peigi returned to her roots on the Central Coast in 2014 after working in Silicon Valley for many years. She currently designs residential landscapes throughout the greater Monterey Bay Area and looks forward playing in and helping others appreciate California's natural beauty for many years to come.

Barbara is a native plant gardener, horticulturist, writer and blogger. Her recent book, Wild Suburbia – Learning to Garden with Native Plants, guides new and experienced gardeners on a journey toward sustainable, habitat gardening. Barbara is research associate at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, plant sale chair for the San Gabriel Mountains Chapter of CNPS, and founder and organizer of Friends of South Pasadena Nature Park. Her home garden has been featured on the Theodore Payne Garden Tour numerous times. Her gardening website can be found at weedingwildsuburbia.com.

Mike Evans is founder and President of Tree of Life Nursery, the state’s largest California native plant nursery. Founded in 1978, Tree of Life grows over 400 varieties on 40 acres on the historic Rancho Mission Viejo in San Juan Capistrano. Mike developed an early love for the natural world and is grateful that he spends more time outdoors than inside. He enjoys surfing, hiking, camping, guitar, and wild places where his old topo maps are still useful because nothing has changed. Mike is past president of International Plant Propagators Society, California Society for Ecological Restoration and Casa Romantica Cultural Center. He studies California’s natural and cultural histories with an emphasis on ethnobotany and horticulture. Mike’s public speaking and writing currently focus on how our engagement with the natural world, and specifically in our natural gardens will be a continuing source of healing and wellness, for both the environment and ourselves.

David is the founder and president of Native Sons Wholesale Nursery.  He is the co-author of Ceanothus, California Native Plants for the Garden, and Reimagining the California Lawn and taught horticulture at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo for 25 years.  Currently he spends his time caring for a two-acre collection of ceanothus cultivars.

Alicia is the founder of the Living Wild Project and co-author of Living Wild—Gardening, Cooking and Healing with Native Plants of California. She is the editor of six publications on herbal medicine, including Herbal Medicine: Expanded Commission E Monographs, The ABC Clinical Guide to Herbs and The Botanical Safety Handbook. Her Living Wild books and programs support environmental and cultural conservation in California.

Susan is a native plant landscape designer in San Diego. She was the first paid Horticulture Program Director for the California Native Plant Society, as well as chair of the San Diego Surfrider Foundation Ocean Friendly Gardens Committee. She is currently on the board of San Diego Canyonlands and on the Port OF San Diego Bayfront design and Cultural Committee.

Since late 2013, Bart O'Brien has been the Manager/Director of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden (RPBG) in Tilden Regional Park in the Berkeley Hills. A fifth generation Californian, Bart is an authority on the California flora and of northwestern Baja California, Mexico, and is also an accomplished collector, grower, photographer, lecturer, and author. He is co-author of three recent books: the award winning California Native Plants for the Garden (2005), Re-imaging the California Lawn – Water-Conserving Plants, Practices, and Designs (2011) and the bilingual Care & Maintenance of Southern California Native Plant Gardens – Cuidado y mantenimiento de jardines de plantas nativas del sur de California (2006). In 2012, Bart finished a 514-page edit of a Percy Everett manuscript which was completed and published online and is titled: A Second Summary of the Horticulture and Propagation of California Native Plants at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden 1950-1970. He was co-curator and co-instigator of the When They Were Wild exhibit on California Wildflowers at The Huntington in 2013. He is lead author of two major contributions on the flora of northwestern Baja California, Mexico that are expected to be published later this year: The Rare, Endangered, and Endemic Plants of the California Floristic Province Portion of Baja California, Mexico and A Checklist of the Flora of the California Floristic Province Portion of Baja California, Mexico. Additionally, he is a coauthor of Plant Diversity and Endemism in the California Floristic Province (Madroño 63(2): 3-206. 2016.) – the first full enumeration of the entire flora of the California Floristic Province from southwestern Oregon to northwestern Baja California, Mexico. Bart O’Brien was named Horticulturist of the Year in 2005 by the Southern California Horticultural Society. O’Brien was listed as one of “The 100 Most Powerful People in Southern California” by the editorial staff of the Los Angeles Times/West Magazine (Aug. 13, 2006). In 2018, he was named a Fellow of the California Native Plant Society.

Greg was recently named the 2018 Horticulturist of the Year by the San Diego Horticultural Society. He is the president and founder of California’s Own Native Landscape Design, Inc., and is a licensed landscape contractor (C-27 No. 717147) who has been working with California native plants since 1985.  By 1993, Greg fully transitioned out of his career as an aerospace engineer to devote himself to his successful and unusual landscaping business. His company has designed over 700 residential, commercial, and institutional native landscapes in Southern California. Specialties include year-round appeal, low maintenance, water efficiency, rich habitat, and fire-resistance. Greg has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, San Diego Union Tribune and Los Angeles Times, and magazines such as Sunset, San Diego Home and Garden, California Gardener and Kiplinger's. Media coverage includes appearances on all of San Diego's local news outlets, CNN & MSNBC. Greg regularly gives presentations and workshops on native plants to conferences, garden clubs and other organizations throughout Southern California. In addition, Greg is co-author, with Lucy Warren, of "The California Native Landscape: The Homeowners’ Design Guide to Restoring its Beauty and Balance," published by Timber Press, 2013. This popular native horticultural literary work covers all aspects of native landscape design. He and Lucy now have a second book, "The Drought Defying California Garden", also published by Timber Press in 2016.

Pete is the owner of East Bay Wilds, a native plant nursery in Oakland.  His firm specializes in the use of native plant material for use in residential and commercial landscapes in the Bay Area. Pete is also an avid photographer and has provided many garden images for CNPS projects.