GardenComm Fellow Honorees
A GardenComm Fellow is a member in good standing who has demonstrated exceptionally high degrees of skill, professional ethics and dedication to the objectives of GardenComm. Fellows are nominated by the membership, recommended by the Honors Committee and elected by the Board of Directors. Two Fellows may be named each year and self-nominations are welcome.
2023 Honoree - Mary Kate Mackey
Mary-Kate Mackey is a garden writer, educator, and speaker. For 25 years her byline has appeared in most major U.S. garden publications. For the past 12 years she has provided monthly content to the Hartley-Botanic Greenhouse website. Her latest book, coauthored with Kathleen Brenzel, is The Healthy Garden—Simple Steps for a Greener World and features advice, opinions, and photos from many GardenComm members. She has been an active member of GardenComm for 23 years, serving as a Region Six National Director, volunteering in many capacities, and teaching the craft of garden writing in workshops, presentations, and webinars. Mary-Kate is the recipient of ten GardenComm writing awards, including a Gold in 2021.
2023 Honoree - Nan Sterman
Nan Sterman is passionate about plants and gardens. She is a pioneer of California’s landscape transition from thirsty and hungry to waterwise, sustainable, and beautiful. Nan focuses on connecting plants to people and the planet. She wears several hats: garden communicator, garden expert, award-winning journalist, designer, teacher, author, botanist, TV host, and producer, among others. She has written three books and hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles. In 2007, she started one of the first gardening blogs in the U.S. for Organic Gardening magazine. She created, produced, and hosted eight seasons of the public TV Show, A Growing Passion. This passion includes a dozen years of board service to GardenComm.
Past Fellow Inductees
| Fellow | Year Honored |
| Sally Cunningham | 2022 |
| Bill Johnson | 2022 |
| Maree Gaetani | 2021 |
| Carol Michel | 2021 |
| Mary B. Good | 2020 |
| Ellen Zachos | 2020 |
| Lois de Vries | 2019 |
| Pat Stone | 2019 |
| Dan Benarcik | 2018 |
| Peggy Ann Montgomery | 2018 |
| Betty Mackey | 2018 |
| Daniel Gasteiger | 2017 |
| Deb Wiley | 2017 |
| Renee Shepherd | 2016 |
| Jan Riggenbach | 2015 |
| Denny Schrock | 2015 |
| C.L. Fornari Stephanie Cohen |
2014 2014 |
| Felder Rushing | 2013 |
| Saxon Holt | 2012 |
| Anne Marie Van Nest | 2012 |
| Bob Tanem | 2011 |
| Richard Tracy | 2011 |
| Cathy Wilkinson Barash | 2010 |
| R. William Thomas | 2010 |
| Nona Wolfman Koivula | 2009 |
| David Ellis | 2008 |
| Marty Ross | 2008 |
| William Aldrich | 2007 |
| Maggie Oster | 2007 |
| Denise Cowie | 2006 |
| Alan & Linda Detrick | 2005 |
| Irene Virag | 2005 |
| Rose Marie Nichols McGee | 2004 |
| Mary Ellen Logee Ross | 2004 |
| Thomas Powell | 2003 |
| Frederick E. Roberts | 2003 |
| Brian Minter | 2002 |
| Douglas Jimerson | 2001 |
| Barbara Lawton | 2001 |
| Ken Druse | 2000 |
| Barbara Emerson | 1990 |
| David Tarrant | 2000 |
| Rosalind Creasy | 1999 |
| Jacqueline Hériteau | 1999 |
| Jeff Lowenfels | 1998 |
| Walter Chandoha | 1997 |
| Frances Tenenbaum | 1997 |
| Jean Byrne | 1996 |
| Larry & Anstace Esmonde-White | 1995 |
| Ed Hume | 1995 |
| Michael D. Smith | 1993 |
| Jane Price McKinnon | 1992 |
| Virginia Lewis Beatty | 1991 |
| Wil Jung | 1991 |
| Russell Morash | 1990 |
| George Elbert | 1989 |
| Theodore R. Marston | 1989 |
| George W. Waters | 1989 |
| Maggie Baylis | 1988 |
| Irma Bartell Dugan | 1988 |
| Joseph E. Howland | 1988 |
| James W. Wilson | 1988 |
| John E. Bryan | 1987 |
| Derek Fell | 1987 |
| Jane Pepper | 1987 |
| F. Gordon Foster | 1986 |
| Fred C. Galle | 1986 |
| Corinne W. Willard | 1986 |
| Lorraine M. Burgess | 1985 |
| Dr. Ray C. Allen | 1985 |
| Jeannette Lowe | 1985 |
| Everitt L. Miller | 1985 |
| Alice Upham Smith | 1984 |
| Wilbur Youngman | 1984 |
| M.C. "Lee" Goldman | 1983 |
| Elvin McDonald | 1983 |
| Frederick McGourty | 1983 |
| Paul F. Frese | 1982 |
| Clarence E. Lewis | 1982 |
| George W. Taloumis | 1982 |
| John E. Bradshaw | 1981 |
| John Burton Brimer | 1981 |
| Robert A. Nicholson | 1981 |
| G. "Doc" & Katy Abraham | 1979 |
| Alice W. Burlingame | 1979 |
| Roy Hay | 1979 |
| Margaret Herbst | 1979 |
| Dr. R. Miltion Carlton | 1977 |
| Gretchen Harshbarger | 1977 |
| Gordon B. Lloyd | 1977 |
| C. Gordon Milne | 1977 |
| Albert Wilson | 1977 |