David Murray is the horticulturist for the Shida Evaluation Garden. Our new Shida Evaluation Garden allows us to expand our acclaimed plant evaluation program, which began in 1982. The landscape plan by Wirtz International Landscape Architects includes specialty evaluation areas for perennials, roses, and vines. This new garden features crabapple tunnels, deciduous hedges, and playful ornamental grass mounds that come together in a distinctive, non-traditional design. 

David received his bachelor’s degree in environmental studies at Northeastern Illinois University. His interest the outdoors began as a broad curiosity of the natural world, where he was encouraged to spend much of his time as a child. As a teen while adventuring out west, he saw his first old-growth forest and from then on, has become enamored of the power of plants, and especially trees. David has worked at the Botanic Garden in a variety of positions since 2016, starting as an intern on Japanese Islands, working on grounds and as a seasonal assistant, and most recently as the horticulturist in the Waterfall and Dwarf Conifer Gardens. He moved to his current position in November of 2021.