We are thrilled to announce Brent Antrim will be Southern Highlands Reserve’s new Gardens Manager. In this new position, Brent will manage and develop SHR’s botanical collections, oversee strategic planning addressing plant health in the garden rooms, and work to increase biodiversity in our garden.
“Brent’s experience, perspective, attention to detail, and strategic thought processes have added a deeper layer to our team,” said Executive Director Kelly Holdbrooks. “I’m excited to see how our gardens will improve under his leadership.”
Brent joined our team in October of 2022. He brought not only a wealth of plant knowledge but also experience garnered from 20 years managing Chauncey Gardeners, a garden design, installation, and maintenance company he founded in Monroe, Ga., just outside Athens.
Brent’s love for gardening was inspired by time spent with his grandparents, who were avid gardeners and loved taking young Brent to visit prominent gardens. Brent graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor’s degree in history and spent two years as a student assistant at the State Botanical Gardens of Georgia. Brent was operations manager at Sedgefield Interior Landscapes in Atlanta, supervising the installation and maintenance of tropical plants in malls, hotels, and office building atriums. He also worked as sales manager for Chisholm’s Quality Foliage, a wholesale greenhouse in midtown Atlanta two blocks from the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
Brent and his wife, Kim, have been married for 26 years and live in Pisgah Forest with their two labs, Gracie and Andre.