David Korbonits never had to stray far from home to bridge the parallel interests that came to define his career. He did leave the area briefly to study photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, later earning his master’s in the discipline at the Cranbrook Academy of Art outside Detroit. His original goal was to teach, but a post-graduation recession kept such jobs scarce, so Korbonits returned to West Chester, where he found everything he needed.
When Korbonits was in second grade, his father, Charles, moved the family about a mile from the borough to a heavily wooded property in East Bradford Township. His mother, June, didn’t object. She’d inherited an interest in gardening from her mother and was a regular in a horticulture certificate program offered at the Merion home of esteemed art collector Dr. Albert C. Barnes. (The noncredit program is still available through Saint Joseph’s University.)
“Growing up, the outdoors was our playground,” Korbonits recalls. “In large part, I liked being outdoors, but I was trained in photography. I didn’t want to be in a studio or in a darkroom all day, so my career gradually evolved.”
Camera in hand and with unlimited access, Korbonits will sometimes follow certain plants through a season
Now 72, Korbonits spent a notable 28 years as a horticulturist at Mt. Cuba Center in Hockessin, Delaware, specializing in a meadow garden that teems with native grasses and wildflowers. Since retiring in 2018, he’s become an integral part of the volunteer team at Stoneleigh, Natural Lands’ 42-acre public garden of native plants and regional ecology in Villanova. Though he greets guests and leads tours, it’s his photography that’s been so valuable in documenting Stoneleigh and sharing it with others. “The variety is incredible,” he says. “We didn’t have at Mt. Cuba what we have here.”
Renowned for its Appalachian Piedmont flora, Mt. Cuba Center was initially the private estate of Pamela Cunningham Copeland, who was significantly ahead of her time in promoting native plants in the early 1900s, when collecting specimens from all over the world was more in vogue. Korbonits was drawn to Mt. Cuba when he began attending lectures given by University of Delaware Professor Doug Tallamy, a renowned entomologist, ecologist and conservationist. “It all clicked,” Korbonits remembers. “I was in the garden all the time. I saw all the same insects, and those insects were always on the same plants. I saw the connections between the native plants and the ecosystem. It’s what Doug taught.”
Soon enough, Korbonits was also teaching at Mt. Cuba. Naturally, he needed photos, and his dual avocation evolved from there. It’s continued into retirement.
Another former estate, Stoneleigh was acquired by Natural Lands in April 2016 from the family of the late John and Chara Haas. Under the Media-based nonprofit’s stewardship, some 105,000 new plants have been added to a landscape that had 300 different varieties when acquired. That number has since increased tenfold. And optimism runs high for the additional possibilities should Natural Lands soon acquire Oakwell, an adjoining estate that would add 10 acres of planting space to complement a backdrop of significant tree specimens. Any new developments were pending at press time.
Stoneleigh is part of Natural Lands’ network of 40-plus nature preserves on some 23,000 acres across eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. Opened to the public in 2018, it ho sts about 45,000 guests annually. “It’s hard to quantify the impact of David’s volunteering,” says Ethan Kauffman, Stoneleigh’s director. “Through posting his photos on social media, we reach thousands of people who may never have the chance to visit us.”
Camera in hand and with unlimited access, Korbonits will sometimes follow certain plants through a season or perhaps the growth of a tree. He also gets staff requests for lecture images. “We focus on biodiversity—or what we call gardening in concert with nature,” says Samantha Nestory, an entomologist and the engagement manager at Stoneleigh, who leads the ambassadors and manages its social media. “When David uploads photos, I know I’m set with content for weeks,” she says.
At his home in West Chester, Korbonits makes efficient use of his fifth of an acre. “It’s fairly planted up,” he notes. “I have more plants than the rest of the neighbors … combined maybe.”
Adds Nestory: “Every single staff member has a plant from Dave’s garden.”
Once scarce, native plant nurseries have sprung up everywhere—and with cell phones, everyone’s a photographer. “I take pictures of birds, and hundreds of others do too,” Korbonits says. “But it still takes compos ition an d attentio n to detail.”
About the only non-native aspect of Korbonits’ life these days is his artificial knees. But he made sure his rehab had him returning to action in March. “I did plan the timing,” he admits. “I wanted to be ready to watch things start popping up.”
Visit natlands.org/stoneleigh.
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