Susan Narizny has an MA in Linguistics from the University of California at Los Angeles. She owned her own nursery for five years, specializing in hardy fuchsias. She was for four years the Office Administrator for the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon and is currently the General Secretary on that Board of Directors.

Susan Hill has an MLS in Library Science from the University of California at Berkeley. She and her husband owned their own garden design business before moving to Oregon. She is a certified Master Gardener, served on the Board of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon, and is past president of the Salem Hardy Plant Society.