John Dole is a professor with the department of horticultural science at North Carolina State University. John has served as southern region director, treasurer, and executive advisor of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers (ASCFG). He also co-coordinates the national ASCFG trial programs, which evaluate new annual, perennial and woody cut species. He has written hundreds of trade journal articles, scientific journal articles, and book chapters, as well as several other books. In 2000 he received the ASCFG's Allan Armitage Award.