Barry Glick - author, lecturer, plant breeder and grower

Barry's hellebore breeding garden at Sunshine Farm occupies six spectacular hillside acres. Download a large version (800x600) of this image.

Barry Glick has been involved in the plant world since 1954, when at the young, impressionable age of 5, he witnessed Don Herbert (Mr. Wizard on TV) put a cutting of a plant in a glass of water only to sprout roots a few shows later. Barry replicated the experiment with his one of his mother's prized Coleus plants, and as he watched the roots grow, knew that he was hooked for life.

Growing up in Philadelphia in the 60s, a Mecca of horticulture, Barry would hitchhike to Longwood Gardens before he was old enough to drive. In 1972 he realized there was just not enough room for him and his plants in the big city environment, so he bought 60 acres of a mountaintop in Greenbrier County West Virginia where he gave birth to Sunshine Farm & Gardens, started his plant collection, and has remained there since.

One of Barry's 68,000 hellebore plants.

The collection now numbers more than 10,000 taxa, many unknown to cultivation. Several of these plants have been introduced to gardening in recent years. Barry exchanges seeds and plants with people at Botanic Gardens, nurseries and private gardens in virtually every country in the world.

In 1993, Barry and several other gardeners, lecturers, authors and horticulturists joined forces to form the North American Plant Preservation Council. The NAPPC is modeled after England’s National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens. The council lists important collections of particular genera of plants at private and public gardens in North America. Barry is an active member of about 75 horticultural societies. He lectures extensively both in the US and abroad on the subject of North American Native Plants.

In 1995 he developed a hands on propagation workshop called "The Joy of Propagation" or "Everything That You Wanted To Know About Propagation, But Were Afraid To Ask". The 4-hour workshop was first presented at the 5th annual Millersville Native Plant Symposium at Millersville University, Millersville PA. Barry has been invited back to give the workshop again at the 1996, 1997 and 1998 Symposiums. The popularity of the workshop has lead to its presentation at several other venues. At this time a two-hour commercial video based on the workshop is in the planning stages.

Seeing the world through hellebore eyes, Barry Glick is one of the country's foremost experts and producers of these fascinating and beautiful plants. Editor's Note: Mr. Glick doesn't really look like this, in real life he is much taller...

Barry is the editor of the Internet’s on-line magazine for serious gardeners, the Cyber-Plantsman . He also maintains several other World Wide Web sites for Sunshine Farm and Gardens, The NAPPC and his breeding work in the genus Helleborus. Several articles have been authored and have appeared in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden Journal , Castanea , the Journal of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society , many North American Rock Garden Society Chapter Newsletters , New Rare and Elusive Plants Journal in the UK, The Viola Society Newsletter and many more. A six page article covering Native Terrestrial Orchids was published in Nov-Dec 1998 issue of Fine Gardening.

Our thanks to Barry for being Floridata's second Celebrity Gardener. You can tour Barry's spectacular Sunshine Farm and see his hellebores (and lots of other plants) online at www.sunfarm.com. - Jack 1/11/04

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