Collin Varner is a horticulturalist/arboriculturalist. Over his forty-year career, he worked at the University of British Columbia's Botanical Garden, assumed responsibility for conserving 25,000 trees across campus, and taught courses in native plant studies. Now retired, Varner is an avid photographer, world traveller, and author of several bestselling nature guides, including The Flora and Fauna of Coastal British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest, Trees of Victoria, Edible and Medicinal Flora of the West Coast, and 50 Keystone Flora Species of Coastal British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.