Scott McMahan

Scott was born and raised in Decatur, Georgia.  He has a Bachelor’s degree in English from Wofford College (Spartanburg, South Carolina) and an Associate’s Degree in Horticulture from Spartanburg Community College. Scott was the propagator for a large wholesale grower for 5 years as well as the nursery manager at the Atlanta Botanical Garden for several years before opening his first nursery. 

 In 2003, Scott left ABG to open a nursery business in north Georgia called McMahan’s Nursery.   In the fall of 2009, Scott helped to opened another retail nursery called Garden*Hood in downtown Atlanta. Between 2009 and 2016, Garden*Hood won multiple local awards including the “Best of the Big A” in the AJC and Creative Loafing’s “Best Garden shop”.  

In early 2016, Scott sold much of his ownership in Garden*Hood and closed McMahan’s Nursery in order to accept a full time position as the Manager of International Plant Exploration at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.  With this new position, Scott oversees plant exploration, collection and evaluation at ABG as well as a visiting scholar program created to promote the exchange of knowledge and plants with other botanical institutions around the world. Since 2001, Scott has made more than 40 overseas scouting and collecting trips for ABG to China, Vietnam, India, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Bhutan and Mexico.

Scott lives in Decatur, Georgia with his wife Kristie and two daughters, Lily and Olivia.