Buck is a garden designer and a third generation nurseryman from rural Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He studied architecture at the Pennsylvania College of Technology. Upon graduation he was employed at an architecture firm that was strongly focused on historical influences and preservation. “During my time at the firm, I came to believe I needed to know more about the entire site, not just the building.” So he enrolled in the Landscape Architecture program at Temple University in Philadelphia. Buck truly enjoyed the university setting and became a Representative for the program to the Student Government and eventually a Senator. Buck said “Through my design courses I came to appreciate the rich diversity of regional, cultural and historical influences each project inherently comes with, and the challenges presented me to enhance and promote these aspects”.

While at Temple, Buck received the James Rose, Landscape Architect, Environmental Design Award; the Horticultural Landscape Design Charette, First Place award at the Mid-Atlantic Horticultural Field Days – Longwood Gardens; The Faculty Special Contribution Award; the Horticulture Alumni Association Award; and for his entire body of work, the American Society of Landscape Architects certificate of Honor for Excellence in the Study of Landscape Architecture.

Upon graduation, Buck was asked to teach in the program’s Design-Build Studio for one year. Being on the other side of the desk was invigorating, and planted the seed for a future in the classroom and lecturing. Immediately after, he worked for a large, multi-disciplined architectural firm, where he managed a contract for the design and renovation of eighty recreational parks for the City of Philadelphia. During his time with the firm, Buck worked with city officials and community groups, and designed community parks tied in with the history of each neighborhood, the city and the region. After a two year stint at a landscape design-build firm, where he was drawn to the detail of garden design, and the hands-on aspects of the company, the call was made by the family to join them at Walter’s Nursery, where he is now a partner.

Buck is a member the Historical Committee at the Point Pleasant Church. Travel is one of his passions; he has been to Great Britain and Europe more than a dozen times in the past decade, as well as all over the U.S. and Canada. He watercolor paints, practices the folk art of Pennsylvania German Fraktur, enjoys playing the piano, the psaltery and singing in a local choir. He is an avid skier and loves to river kayak. (Back to STAFF Page)