Biography of Paul James

“There was a time when I hated gardening,” says Master Gardener Paul James, also known as The Gardener Guy®. “It was when my dad made me dig the Bermuda grass out of his vegetable garden in the middle of August, and I’d sweat in places I never knew I had sweat glands.”

Paul’s come a long way since the. He now hosts one of Home and Garden Television’s most popular programs, “Gardening by the Yard,” most of which is shot in his own backyard. He is also the shows creator, writer, senior producer, and director. The show airs in over 100 million homes around the world.

“I remember watching gardening shows when I was younger, and I was amazed at how everything was always picture perfect. The soil was soft and crumbly. The plants were pest and disease free. And the host never broke a sweat. So when I got the chance to do my own show, I decided to make it as real as possible.”

That realism, plus Paul’s zany style and a commitment to all-natural gardening, has endeared viewers to his show since it first aired on HGTV in 1996. “If I’ve got a spot where the soil is awful, or a plant that’s been riddled by bugs or plagued by some sort of disease, I don’t hide it. I feature it. How else will people know how to deal with their own garden problems?”

Paul began gardening in earnest in 1979, the year he and his wife, Carrie, got married and purchased their first home. As an undergraduate, Paul received numerous awards for his research in analytical chemistry. He also studied botany, plant physiology, and plant pathology. In 1983, he received his master gardener certification. But the self-confessed gardening fanatic readily admits that most of what he knows about gardening came from “digging in the dirt, and making more than a few mistakes along the way.”

In addition to producing 26 episodes of “Gardening by the Yard” each year, Paul travels coast to coast making personal appearances. He also hosts the Tournament of Roses Parade on HGTV.

When he’s not working or spending time in the garden, Paul enjoys being in the kitchen (he’s got a cooking show, “Home Grown Cooking,” on DIY, the Do-It-Yourself Network), fishing his favorite trout stream, playing guitar, hanging out with his three kids, and teaching Tae Kwon Do (he’s currently working on his third-degree black belt).