Bob Allen (aka Bug Bob) is a Southern California entomologist/botanist, research associate, photographer, instructor and co-author (with Fred Roberts) of Wildflowers of Orange County and the Santa Ana Mountains.
Cassy Aoyagi is president of FormLA Landscaping and the Theodore Payne Foundation, and a leader in the field of sustainable landscaping.
Anna Armstrong & Richard Walker are Monrovia-based CA-licensed landscape architects with extensive experience in planning, designing and supervising successful landscape projects.
Genevieve Arnold has worked with California native plants and seeds for more than a decade. Previous to her position as Seed Program Manager at TPF, she served as seed conservation program technician at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. She enjoys seed sowing and collecting, and appreciates the beauty of the native garden in all its phases. She also likes to hike in our local wilderness areas and observe wildflowers and plants in their natural habitat.
Madena Asbell is TPF’s Director of Horticulture. She holds an MFA in photography from CalArts and has designed native gardens at home and for others. She has a particular fondness for plants of the Mojave Desert, Eastern Sierra and San Gabriel Mountains, and is especially interested in the relationship between plants and insects.
Laura Bauer is a Ventura-based landscape designer (bauerfinegardening.com) and longtime TPF instructor.
Tim Becker is TPF’s Nursery Manager. He holds a BA in environmental studies and a certificate in ecological horticulture from UC Santa Cruz. He enjoys taking in the sights, smells and sounds of the California landscape from the saddle of his poppy orange bicycle.
Orchid Black is a garden designer and the owner of Native Sanctuary (nativesanctuary.wordpress.com), a firm offering native plant consulting, habitat creation and sustainable design services to the greater Los Angeles area. She writes and lectures about native plants, water-saving strategies and sustainable gardening.
Barbara Eisenstein is a native plant gardener, horticulturist and blogger (weedingwildsuburbia.com), and a research associate at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden.
Lorrae Fuentes is a botanical educator and native plant advocate, and producer of the Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline.
Steve Gerischer is the owner of Larkspur Garden Design, a plant nut and a popular teacher on subjects related to gardening in this region. He serves as president of the Southern California Horticultural Society and Pacific Horticultural Society.
Ken Gilliland is an accomplished birdwatcher and avian artist (empken.com) and TPF’s former webmaster.
Andreas Hessing is an artist and landscape designer and contractor (scrubjaystudios.com). For more than 20 years, his site-specific installations have celebrated regional biodiversity while focusing on the philosophical, political and social implications of California’s indigenous flora.
Kat High is a Native Californian of Hupa descent. Trained by elders in Native American land management traditions, she teaches others how to adapt those principles to the modern world, and offers environmental education as a traditional path through this time of climate change.
Rebecca Latta is the owner of Rebecca Latta Consulting, a Southern California firm specializing in arboriculture, horticulture and locally native plants and wildlife.
Joshua Link is a registered landscape architect, urban designer, graphic artist and writer. He received his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 2006. As founding principal of Ecotone Studios (ecotonestudios.com), Joshua guides a professional practice dedicated to reconciling the physical and philosophical divide between urban and wild. His work includes experience on a broad range of projects including greenways, parks, campuses, streetscapes, regional plans, public art installations, and residential gardens.
Amy Nettleton is a South Pasadena-based CA-licensed landscape architect (elemental-landscapes.com).
Bart O’Brien is director of Regional Parks Botanic Garden at Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley; an expert on plants of California and Baja California; and co-author California Native Plants for Garden, Care & Maintenance of Southern California Native Plant Gardens, and Reimagining the California Lawn.
Antonio Sanchez is plant propagation manager at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and a former TPF staff member.
Lili Singer is a horticulturist, educator and garden writer, recognized for her publication, The Southern California Gardener, and as host of The Garden Show on KCRW-fm. She is TPF’s Director of Special Projects and Adult Education.
John Wickham is past president of the Theodore Payne Foundation, an avid native plant gardener, and curator of the Foundation’s bulb collection, library and archives.
Hartmut Wisch discovered a love for macro photography and a fascination with the diversity of our insect fauna after working for 35 years as a naturalist-guide, taking European visitors through western North America. His special interest is in observing and identifying our native bees. He is a contributing editor at bugguide.net (Iowa State U. Entomology).