Biographies

Henry Flowers, a native Texan, graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Horticulture and a Master of Agriculture degree in Floriculture. He joined the staff of the Antique Rose Emporium, helping to design and implement new nursery-gardens in north Georgia and San Antonio, TX. The Antique Rose Emporium brought him back to Texas, to their site in Independence, TX. He was Director of Gardens for the Round Top Festival Institute (Festival Hill) in Round Top, TX for several years and oversaw their annual Herbal Forum. He currently works as a horticulturist for a landscaping company in Brenham, Texas. He is a life member at large of The Herb Society of America and is a frequent contributor to The Herbarist.

John Forti is a garden historian, horticulturist, and ethnobotanist who has directed gardens for Plimoth Plantation Museum, Strawbery Banke Museum, Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and Bedrock Gardens. He has won numerous awards including the 2020 Award of Excellence from National Garden Clubs and HSA’s Nancy Putnam Howard Award for Excellence in Horticulture in 2014. He is a member of the New England Unit, and has served as their chair. His latest book, The Heirloom Gardener Traditional Plants & Skills for the Modern World, has been recognized by Amazon as the #1BestSeller in gardening and horticulture.

Debra Knapke, aka “The Garden Sage,” is passionate about herbs, gardening, sustainable garden design and the natural world, and enjoys sharing knowledge through her writing, public speaking, and garden consulting in the private and public sectors. She is a past Honorary President of The Herb Society of America (2014-2016) and currently is the Chair of the Sustainability Committee of GardenComm. You may read more from her on her blog: www. heartland-gardening.com

Vicki Abrams Motz, PhD is a long-term HSA Member, Master Gardener, and plant physiologist. She serves on the faculty of Ohio Northern University (in Ada, Ohio) with her collaborators, Linda Mull Young, PhD, David H Kinder, PhD, Jill Bennett-Toomey, PhD and Kelly Hall, PhD. For this research project, they were joined by three undergraduate investigators, Alyssa Griffith, Rand Abdullatef, and Luke Fickenworth.