Keith Nevison

Keith is responsible for overseeing all of the horticultural initiatives for Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.

In 2022, Keith Nevison relocated back to his home state of California to step into the role of director of horticulture and operations at the Garden. With the opening of the Backcountry in June 2022, Keith has been excited to work with the Garden teams to establish a welcome space for the young and young at heart to have fun and create lasting memories, while learning about the ecological importance of native plants.

He moved to Santa Barbara from Virginia, where he served as the farm and natural resource manager at Bundoran Farm, stewarding 2,300 acres (930 hectares) of pastures, forests, and natural areas for a community association. In addition, Nevison spent three years cohosting “Virginia Home Grown,” a flagship Virginia Public Media program exploring the delights and challenges of gardening in the commonwealth. Prior to that, he served as manager of Monticello’s Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants and launched the Monticello Center for Food and Farming.

Keith obtained his master’s degree in public horticulture through the Longwood Graduate Program at the University of Delaware, where he studied pollinator interactions on native Phlox and its cultivars. He presently holds certifications as a master naturalist, FFT2 certified wildland firefighter, and an International Society of Arboriculture arborist. He loves exploring nature and native plants in the Golden State with his wife, Jennifer, and son, Felix.