Award-winning garden photojournalist Debra Lee Baldwin is a renowned expert on succulents and waterwise landscape design. Debra writes monthly garden columns for San Diego Home/Garden magazine, and is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union Tribune, Sunset magazine, and publications in print and online. Debra's photo CD of succulents recently won an award for excellence from the Garden Writers of America. Her book, Designing with Succulents---which spent 19 straight weeks on Amazon's list of the top ten bestselling gardening books---was selected as Amazon's Editor's Choice Best of 2007 book in the category Home & Garden. Designing with Succulents is now in its fourth printing, and a French translation just came out. Debra is currently working on Succulent Container Gardens (Timber Press, spring 2010). Debra collaborated on Sunset's California Top 10 Garden Guide, a book for beginning gardeners, and she updated the succulent entries that appear in the new edition of the Sunset Western Garden Book. Debra's own garden, in Escondido, CA has been featured in Better Homes & Gardens and other publications.  Learn more about Debra Lee Baldwn at http://debraleebaldwin.com

Kay Havens loves dirty gloves. An active Master Gardener she is both a Master Composter and Speaker. Her passion is growing gardeners. You can find her volunteering at many Master Gardener projects throughout Orange County including the South Coast Research Center, Spring Garden Show, Orange County Fair, Master Gardener Advisory Council and the PRISM Water Quality Study site. She is also a member of the California Rare Fruit Growers and the Organic Gardening Club of Orange County. When not volunteering with the UCCE Master Gardeners, Kay is the CEO of an estate garden consulting firm in Irvine.  Learn more about the Master Gardeners at http://www.uccemg.com

Dr. Haver received a B.S. in Ornamental Horticulture from the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and a Ph.D. in Botany & Plant Sciences from the University of California, Riverside. He currently serves as the Water Resource/Water Quality Advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension in Orange and Riverside Counties. He has been active in assisting agricultural producers in with the development of a nutrient management plan and also providing ongoing technical assistance to nurseries operating under Waster Discharge Permits. He also provides technical assistance to urban landscape professionals, municipalities, HOAs, and developers with the implementation of management practices to improve the quality of surface runoff. His current research focuses on the identification, transport, fate, and mitigation of pollutants from agricultural and urban environments.  Learn more about UC Cooperative Extension at http://ceorange.ucdavis.edu

As County Director of the University of California Cooperative Extension for Orange County, Dr. Kabashima coordinates and supervises the Environmental Horticulture, Water Quality, Master Gardener, 4-H, and Nutrition Education programs at the county level. John conducts Environmental Horticulture research and educational activities at the UC ANR South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine, California. His areas of research include insect, disease and weed management in Ornamental Horticulture production systems, biological control of exotic pests, water use and water related problems, and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL’s) of landscapes, golf courses, nurseries, municipalities, and watersheds, as well as detection and removal of pathogens, pesticides and fertilizers in nursery recycled water systems and in agricultural runoff water. John manages the Master Gardener volunteer program which uses formally trained volunteers of UC Cooperative Extension to extend university based information on gardening and horticulture to the public. He is a member of the Entomological Society of America, California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers, and is an Honorary Member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Southern California. Dr. Kabashima has served on various committees for CANGC, UC ANR and South Coast Research and Extension Center. He has served on the Glassy Winged Sharpshooter Science Advisory Panel and Nursery Task Force for the California Department of Food and Agriculture and committees on the Red Imported Fire Ant, Watershed Management, and Exotic/Invasive Pests & Diseases. John received his Ph.D. in Entomology and an M.S. in Pest Management from the University of California at Riverside, an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University, and a B.S. in Agricultural Biology from California Polytechnic University at Pomona. He has also published numerous articles, papers, and book chapters over his past 21 years with UC Cooperative Extension. Learn more about UC Cooperative Extension at http://ceorange.ucdavis.edu

Over her twenty-six year career, Heather Lenkin, president of Lenkin Design Inc, has won various accolades for her designs and achievements in landscape architecture and design. Heather actively participates in the regional and global community through her memberships and contributions to national and international organizations. Heather Lenkin's own gardens were recently featured on NHK's Japanese program The Great Gardening Life, a series that features great gardens around the world. Learn more about  Heather Lenkin at http://lenkindesign.com

Erick Lux is a professional horticulturist and certified arborist based in Orange County. With over 25 years experience in the nursery and landscaping business, Erick has become an expert in all things plant-related. Erick holds an A.A. in horticulture from Saddleback College, is a University of California Extension Master Gardener, a CAN certified Advanced Nursery Professional and is an ISA certified arborist. He has worked at several nurseries, including Roger’s Gardens, and currently works at Plant Depot in San Juan Capistrano. More importantly, Erick is a pure plant enthusiast, with a love for horticulture—particularly Mediterranean flora and South African bulbs—that drives his passionate pursuit for environmental knowledge and advocacy. His love of nature extends far beyond the call of industry, and has taken him on explorations around the world, including adventures in Costa Rica, Peru, and South Africa.  Learn more about Erick Lux at http://luxbotaniverse.blogspot.com/

Teena has been a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener since 2005 and an avid home gardener since she was 8 years old. She currently lives and gardens on two-thirds of an acre in Irvine. Teena's gardening areas of interest and knowledge are roses, plant propagation and greenhouse gardening, vegetable gardening, fruit trees, bulbs, perennials, and drought tolerant/native plant gardening. Teena is the founder and coordinator of the Shady Canyon Garden Club in Irvine, a docent at Centennial Farm at the Orange County Fair grounds, a member of the Great Park Conservancy supporting the creation of a botanical garden at the Great Park in Irvine, as well as a volunteer at various Master Gardener venues. Learn more about the Master Gardeners at http://www.uccemg.com

Nan Sterman is an award winning garden communicator, horticulturist, garden designer and gardening coach who lives in Encinitas, California. Ms. Sterman’s expertise includes drought tolerant plants for California’s Mediterranean climate, sustainable gardening, low water landscape design, fruit and vegetable gardening, and gardening how-to. Nan contributes to regional and national publications such as the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union Tribune, Sunset, Organic Gardening, and Better Homes and Gardens. She is co-editor of the Home and Garden section of the upcoming San Diego News Network, SDNN.com. After contributing to a number of gardening books, including the most recent edition of Sunset Western Gardens, Nan’s wrote California Gardeners Guide vol II (Cool Springs Press). This book is a primer on low-water, Mediterranean climate gardening that includes hundreds of beautiful and easy to grow plants for California gardens. It has been received to wide acclaim up and down the state. One of Nan’s favorite projects is A Growing Passion, an award-winning television program under development for the Cox network. Each episode explores a variety of themes for today’s ‘green” gardens such as climate appropriate plants, growing fruits and vegetables, sustainable gardening practices, recycling in the garden, and more. In each episode Nan takes viewers to visit private or public gardens. She also invites viewers into her own yard for gardening demonstrations. For the last several years, Nan has been a regular guest on These Days radio talk show on San Diego Public Radio, KPBS (89.5 FM). The Do-It-Yourself Network has featured her in several of its shows and she has been a guest on local network newscasts. Nan Sterman’s education includes a Bachelor’s degree in botany from Duke University, a Master’s in biology from UC Santa Barbara, and a Masters from the school of Education at San Diego State University. She was trained in organic and sustainable gardening at the Farallones Institute in Berkeley, California. She has served as a Master Composter and Master Gardener as well. In her own home garden Nan Sterman tests a huge range of low-water plants. She is a past board member of the Garden Writers Association and is chairperson of the Encinitas Garden Festival. She sits on the invasive plants subcommittee for the City of Encinitas, and coordinates a 5,000 square foot school garden. Learn more about Nan Sterman at http://www.plantsoup.com

Amy Stewart's newest book Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities (Algonquin Books, May 2009) - is now a New York Times bestseller! and Amy tends a poison garden of her own in northern California. She is the award-winning author of four books on the perils and pleasures of the natural world. Her essays and commentaries have appeared in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Garden Design, Organic Gardening, and elsewhere. She's been featured on NPR, Good Morning America and CBS Sunday Morning. Stewart lives in Eureka, California, with her husband Scott Brown. They own an antiquarian bookstore called Eureka Books and tend a flock of unruly hens in their backyard. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) granted her a Creative Writing Fellowship for 2006. She is the author of From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden, The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms, and the New York Times bestselling Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers.  Recent honors and awards include: * NEA grant recipient, 2006 * California Horticultural Society's Writer's Award 2005 * Barnes & Noble 'Discover Great New Authors' Program * Discovery Channel Book Club Selection * Book translations into Dutch, Japanese, French, and Korean * Rave reviews from the New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Entertainment Weekly, and others * National Public Radio guest; frequent radio and television appearances * Lecture and workshops at the American Museum of Natural History, Northwest Flower & Garden Show, United States Botanic Garden, and California Academy of Sciences.  Learn more about Amy Stewart at http://www.amystewart.com

Emmy-Award winning TV personality, garden writer, public speaker, and horticultural consultant, Pat Welsh is the author of "Pat Welsh's Southern California Gardening: A Month-by-Month Guide," often called "the gardener's bible", and other books. Born in England into a family of avid amateur gardeners, she emigrated to America as a child and spent her teen years on a Pennsylvania farm. She graduated from Hollywood High and Scripps College. In 1989 she became the first Garden Editor of San Diego Home/Garden Magazine and later was longtime host of an evening news segment called "Newscenter 39's Resident Gardener" on the NBC station in San Diego, the first news segment of its kind nationwide.  Learn more about Pat Welsh at http://www.patwelsh.com

Robert Woolley, President of Dave Wilson Nursery,graduated CA State University San Francisco in 1974 in the school’s Creative Arts Department. After college he worked seasonally for Dave Wilson Nursery as a field crew leader and equipment operator before starting a business making furniture and school play structures. He joined the nursery full time in 1980 where he developed recommendations for fruit varieties according to “fruit climate zones” for the nursery’s mail order catalog. In 1982 he became a Field Representative to commercial orchardists, eventually advancing to Sales Manager. Robert, with his wife Jane (Dave Wilson’s granddaughter), assumed ownership of the nursery in 1989. At this time Robert became active in various nursery grower committees, including chairing the CA, Fruit Tree, Nut Tree Improvement Advisory Board, the Foundation Plant Services (UC Davis) Tree Committee and the CA Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers Deciduous Growers Committee. He now serves as chair of the CA Nursery Roundtable and is a member of the Tier II Fruit Tree Commodity Committee of the National Clean Plant Network. Learn more about Robert Woolley at http://www.davewilson.com