Bart O’Brien, of Berkley, CA, has been named the 2022 recipient of the American Horticultural Society’s Liberty Hyde Bailey Award.

ALEXANDRIA, VA, UNITED STATES, March 16, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Bart O’Brien, Director of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Berkley, CA, has been named the 2022 recipient of the American Horticultural Society’s (AHS) Liberty Hyde Bailey Award, the organization’s highest honor, which is given to an individual who has made significant lifetime contributions to at least three of the following horticultural fields: teaching, research, communications, plant exploration, administration, art, business, and leadership.

This accolade is one of the Great American Gardeners Awards that the AHS presents annually to individuals, organizations, and businesses that represent the best in American gardening. “We are delighted to have Bart O’Brien join this prestigious group of esteemed horticulturists and gardeners who, since 1958, have been recognized for their significant career contributions to fields such as research, communications, plant exploration, administration, and teaching,” said Marcia Zech, AHS Board Chair.

Over the course of his 40-year career, O'Brien’s accomplishments range from plant exploration and horticultural research to plant introductions, conservation, public garden leadership, landscape design, book and article publication, and public speaking.

Since 2013, O’Brien has been garden manager of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden (RPBG) in Berkeley, California, which is part of the East Bay Regional Park District. Prior to that, he spent the bulk of his career—almost 20 years—in a variety of roles at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSABG)—which has since been renamed the California Botanic Garden (CBG)—-in Claremont, California. At RSABG, he served as director of horticulture and director of special projects, plant introductions, and sales. As part of his research, O’Brien has done extensive fieldwork throughout California, particularly focused on the southern inner coast ranges, San Benito County, and the eastern Mojave ranges; also in Baja California, Mexico, primarily in the California Floristic Province (from the U.S. border south to El Rosario, and adjacent Pacific islands).

In addition to writing or co-authoring nearly 100 articles about plants and ecology in scholarly journals and popular magazines, O’Brien served as editor of Fremontia, the scientific journal of the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) from 2006 to 2009. O’Brien is the co-author of three well-regarded gardening books, California Native Plants for the Garden, Care and Maintenance of Southern California Native Plant Gardens, and Reimagining the California Lawn.

In recognition of his many years of service to the California Native Plant Society, O’Brien was named a Fellow in 2018. Among the many other regional organizations, he has been active with is the Southern California Horticultural Society, where he was for many years co-chair of their speakers’ program committee and regularly conducted the plant forum at monthly meetings. He served as the organization’s president from 2002 to 2006 and was named its Horticulturist of the Year in 2005.

After earning a BS in Environmental Planning and Management at the University of California, Davis, O’Brien went on to graduate from the master’s program in landscape architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His first job in horticulture was as a landscape designer with Cambrian Nursery in San Jose, where he provided landscape consultations and designs for residential clients in the early 1980s.

For more information on this year’s recipients, please visit our 2022 Award Winners. Photographs of the award winners and additional information about the awards program are available upon request by contacting Katherine Somerville at ksomerville@ahsgardening.org or calling (703) 768-5700, ext. 121.

 Founded in 1922, the American Horticultural Society is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization committed to modeling, educating about, and advocating for earth-friendly and sustainable gardening practices. Our mission is to share with all Americans the critical role of plants, gardens, and green spaces in creating healthy, livable communities and a sustainable planet. Since 1973, we have been headquartered at River Farm, part of George Washington’s original land holdings on a 25-acre site composed of gardens, meadows, and woodlands along the Potomac River in the Mount Vernon section of Fairfax County. To learn more, visit https://ahsgardening.org.

Katherine Somerville
American Horticultural Society
+1 703-768-5700 ext. 121
email us here

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