Felder Rushing is a tenth-generation American gardener, raised into his teen years under the apprenticeship of a horticulturist great-grandmother who grew flowers, vegetables, herbs, and fruits without a hose or pesticides, and a garden club grandmother who garnered hundreds of blue ribbons for her plant breeding and displays. He is a longtime national director of the Garden Writers Association, member of the National Youth Gardening Committee, past president of several horticulture societies, and board member of the American Horticultural Society. He delivers more than eighty lectures each year and is the author of several books including Passalong Plants, Tough Plants for Southern Gardens, Slow Gardening, and Gardening Southern Style.