Chip Callaway

Chip Callaway graduated from the College of Architecture at NC State University with a master’s degree in landscape architecture. Over the past 30 years, Chip and his design staff have designed nearly 1,000 gardens ranging in size from large estates to small patios. During his career Chip has completed commissions from Nantucket and Long Island to Palm Beach and England with the majority of the projects coming from the Carolinas and Virginia.

Paul F. “Chip” Callaway’s leafy concoctions cover the East Coast. His gardens grow around private homes from Nantucket to Palm Beach, and around public venues from the Alexander Graham Bell House in Washington, D.C., to the Greensboro Historical Museum.

His work has wowed dignitaries both foreign and domestic — from Britain’s Prince Charles to North Carolina’s high sheriff, Andy Griffith.

A darling of the photosynthesis set, Callaway has even done gardens in England, a land fairly choked with green thumbs, but he remains firmly rooted in North Carolina. He operates out of side-by-side bungalows — one home, one office — in Greensboro’s historic Fisher Park. 

Sir Peter Crane FRS

Sir Peter Crane FRS is President of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation in Virginia, an estate of Rachel Lambert Mellon that includes an exquisite garden as well as an exceptional library focused on plants, gardens, and landscape design. He was at the Field Museum in Chicago from 1982–1999, and Director of The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 1999–2006, before being appointed University Professor at The University of Chicago. In 2009 he was recruited as Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (now Yale School of the Environment). Peter Crane was knighted in the UK for services to horticulture and conservation in 2004. He is a member of several national science academies and the recipient of honorary degrees from universities in the UK and US, including an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University in the UK. He received the International Prize for Biology in 2014.

Calder Loth

Calder Loth is the retried Senior Architectural Historian for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources where he served for 41 years and still works part time. In 2008 he received the Secretary of the Interior’s Preservation Award for service to state preservation programs, and in 2017 he received the Virginia AIA Honor Award for significant contributions to the understanding of Virginia’s built environment. He currently represents the Department of Historic Resources on the Virginia Art and Architectural Review Board. Calder also serves on advisory committees for Gunston Hall, Kenmore, Stratford Hall, Maymont, the Menokin Foundation, Preservation Virginia, and the Historic Richmond Foundation. He serves as Vice President of the Center for Palladian Studies in America and is an honorary member of the Garden Club of Virginia.   

His publications include The Virginia Landmarks Register, Virginia Landmarks of Black History, Lost Virginia, as well as numerous articles relating to historic preservation and classical architecture. Eleven of his video lectures, sponsored by New York’s Institute of Classical Architecture and Art, are available on YouTube where they have received more than 850,000 views.

J. Dean Norton

Dean Norton began employment at Mount Vernon Estate on June 23, 1969. After receiving a degree in horticulture from Clemson University he began his horticultural career as the estate’s boxwood gardener in 1977. He was promoted to horticulturist in 1980 and is responsible for applying the latest plant science and management techniques of horticulture in a historic setting. For the past 43 years, Dean has devoted considerable time to researching 18th century gardens and gardening practices and contributed to several on site garden restorations. Dean has served on several Historic Properties Boards including the Historic Properties Committee of Clemson University. He has received awards for conservation from the DAR and the Garden Club of America as well as the Garden Club of America’s Elizabeth Craig Weaver Proctor National Medal given for exemplary service and creative vision in any field related to the Garden Club of Americas special interest. He is a past president of the Southern Garden History Society, is a recipient of the American Horticultural Societies Professional Award, is an honorary member of the Garden Club of Virginia and most recently received a Presidential Appointment to serve on the Committee for the Preservation of the White House.