MEETING REPORT: Horticulturist Of The Year 2026, Nancy Carol Carter, Celebration

k-england
5 days ago
2 min read

SD Hort president Karen England presented Nancy with her award basket that included a framed certificate, a lifetime membership to the San Diego Horticultural Society, Felco pruners and a carrying sheath, a 2026 journal and a maple wood-turned bowl by Ray Brooks. Photo credit: Rachel Cobb.

Horticulturist of the Year for 2026

Nancy Carol Carter.

There was carrot cake from VG's Bakery in Cardiff. Photo credit: Rachel Cobb.

About Nancy -

After a long and rewarding career in legal education, Nancy Carol Carter retired as a Professor of Law and Director of the Legal Research Center at the University of San Diego in 2013. During her academic career she published numerous articles on federal law as applied to Indian nations and wrote the first guides for building tribal legal histories and researching American Indian Law. She created the first website chronicling the history of Native American tribal groups in San Diego County. She holds a BS, MS, MLS and JD and is admitted to practice by the State Bar of Oklahoma and the Northern District of California.

In retirement, Carter turned to her long interest in the history of horticulture, gardens and landscapes. She has completed garden history courses and researches and publishes widely on the life and work of Kate O. Sessions, on lost stories of Balboa Park, and on the work of many local gardeners and horticulturists. Carter has made more than 100 invited presentations to garden clubs and community groups and, as a member of the SDSU Osher program faculty, offers continuing education classes. Two current projects are the publication of a book on Paul G. Thiene, the landscape architect of the 1915 Balboa Park exposition, and the release of her accumulated Kate Sessions research on a publicly accessible website, KateOSessions.info, due to launch on March 25, 2026.

Carter is the associate editor of California Garden magazine and serves on the boards of the California Garden and Landscape History Society, the San Diego Floral Association and the Balboa Park Committee of 100. With Forever Balboa Park, she serves on the Horticulture and Park Improvement Committees. She is a trustee of the Library Foundation SD, chairing its Governance Committee.

Within Balboa Park, Carter contributes to the interpretive signs describing the history of buildings and gardens. She has successfully campaigned to gain official name recognition for two Balboa Park gardens attributable to Kate O. Sessions and the Cactus Garden and the San Jose Hesper Palm Grove now bear her name. Carter received the Friends of Balboa Park Millennium Award in 2015 for park contributions and advocacy. In 2025 Save Our Heritage Organization recognized her with the People in Preservation Culture Keeper: Landscape Heritage award.