Andrew Adams, a UD Class of 2017 alumnus, is the nursery and collections manager of UD Botanic Gardens.

Helping gardens and interns grow

Article by Michele Walfred Photos by Katie Young and Michele Walfred and courtesy of Andrew Adams January 16, 2026

UD Botanic Gardens’ Andrew Adams is a curator of plants and student interns

When Andrew Adams walks through the 15 acres of the University of Delaware Botanic Gardens (UDBG), the Latin binomials unpretentiously roll off his tongue.

As UDBG’s nursery and collections manager, a command of the scientific vocabulary is required. Taxonomy, the formal method of classifying plants, is essential in the botanical world. Distinguishing plants by their scientific names rather than their common names is crucial for precise identification, understanding a plant’s characteristics and determining its native origins.

It’s a practice Adams picked up along the way, beginning in 2016 when he first served as a UDBG intern. The internship ended, but Adams kept going — growing and learning what he calls “another language.”

“My favorite species to pronounce is Parrotiopsis jacquemontiana,” said Adams of one spring-flowering plant on the college grounds. “It’s a rare shrub in the witch hazel family that is native to the Himalayas.”

There, the formality ends. As those who meet him can attest, Adams, a UD Class of 2017 alumnus, is anything but haughty; rather, he is an engaging guide to visitors and students alike.

Adams’ UDBG internship was a key in steering his academic path from chemical engineering to plant science. He worked part time at UDBG throughout his senior year. In 2018, he stepped onto the grounds as UDBG’s first full-time employee and established a career that has branched and blossomed in tandem with the botanicals.

“Andrew’s involvement in the ongoing success of UDBG truly cannot be overstated,” said Lauren Kope, UDBG director. “His role has always been remarkably multifaceted. Not only has he cared for our plant collections and nursery, but he has also served as a curator and educator, while remaining a steady advocate for the UD Botanic Gardens and those who learn here.”

UDBG is a living museum that includes 11 specialty gardens. Adams is currently undergoing a thorough inventory of some 3,000 species and cultivars. Knowing each plant’s history, health and overall purpose in the spaces is as much a passion project as it is a job description. Later this year, when UDBG adds another acre through the much-anticipated Townsend East Lawn and Garden, Adams will curate the new plantings.

In November, Adams’ former title as horticulture manager was reworked to reflect his botanical expertise and responsibilities.

“This new role allows him to focus more intentionally on plant curation, propagation and relationships with nursery professionals,” Kope said. “Student education and mentorship will remain an important part of his work.”

Outdoor classroom

Having walked the intern walk, Adams is a natural at inspiring students. Typically, he hires five from a pool of more than 30 applicants.

Unlike industry internships that require a horticulture background, Adams doesn’t mind starting from scratch and looks for curiosity and a positive attitude in the applicants — a quality he calls “gumption.”

“I can teach the rest,” he said.

Adams’ 2025 student-interns visit Chanticleer Gardens in Wayne, Pennsylvania. It was a welcome respite from toiling in the heat. Left to right, Lee Bloom, Morgan Arriola, Roxi Guariello and Maggie Miller.

Adams enjoys discovering ways to connect students’ academic pursuits with the garden and offers projects that add value, such as the effect of climate change on plants, writing engagement plans for public gardens, and cataloging and inventorying plants, much like one would for an art museum.

The museum atmosphere is what attracted Roxi Guarriello to apply. A senior double major in art history and art conservation with a minor in museum studies, Guarriello also sought credits to fulfill requirements for a museum studies public engagement certificate. Her internship during the summers of 2024 and 2025 checked a lot of boxes.

“Despite the fact I’d never taken a single plant science course or knew how to care for a plant, he was willing to teach, and I was willing to learn,” Guarriello said. “He went above and beyond, guiding me on how to care for plants; he taught me real-life skills that I will take with me for the rest of my life.”

Guarriello’s skills included learning to drive tractors and overcoming a fear of spiders that call the grounds home.

UDBG also attracted Maggie Miller, a senior double-majoring in art history and French.

“One of the things I appreciated most about Andrew was the environment he cultivated in which it was okay to make mistakes,” Miller said. “I never felt bad for asking questions or messing up!”

An opportunity to connect plants to climate change intrigued Lee Bloom, an environmental studies junior.

“Andrew tasked me with revitalizing 20- to 30-year-old plantings at Townsend Courtyard, where a microclimate provides a small-scale urban island effect that allows marginally hardy plants to thrive,” Bloom said. “Andrew assigned me the task of researching and designing a new plant layout.”

Bloom now styles himself as a “plant geek” as a result of his internship.

Every August, the UDBG team, shown here in 2023, visited the Milton garden of Gary and Carol Mertes Smith. The garden seamlessly intermingles tropical and native plantings with a generous dose of creative design.

Adams works external garden tours into the summer schedule. One, a visit to Chanticleer Gardens was a welcome opportunity to put down the tools and to get out of work clothes.

Each August, Adams organizes a visit to the home garden of Carol Mertes-Smith and Gary Smith, Double Dels who are committed supporters of UDBG’s student programs.

“Andrew is such an incredible resource to both of us,” notes Smith. “He is such a key part of the gardens. His enthusiasm for the gardens just wants you to become part of the organization.”

The heat is on

When students unanimously describe the experience of working in Delaware’s notorious heat and humidity as “fun,” Adams and the UDBG team must be doing something right.

“He was very attuned to how long we had been working, making sure we were taking regular breaks and keeping morale up with treats like popsicles,” recalled Miller.

Adams is thrilled to see the interns’ growth toward a career path.

“I’ve walked in their shoes, and I am so pleased to see them reap the rewards that were extended to me,” Adams said. “It is meaningful when a former intern returns to our gardens as a professional colleague in the industry, knowing we played a role in making that happen.”

Adams shares his botanical knowledge with visitors, including 2025’s Master Gardener trainees, who spent several hours at the UDBG this past September.