F. Owen Pearce was a builder and horticulturist who was employed in San Francisco by K.E. Parker Co. for over twenty years. Pearce was born in 1897 in Brighton, Colorado, and attended multiple schools in Denver, Spokane, Los Angeles, and Corvallis before graduating from the University of California in 1920 with a degree in Architecture. After graduating he became the Chief Estimator for K.E. Parker and contributed to the building of the Woman's Gymnasium, Hearst Hall, and eight other structures on the UC Berkeley campus. In 1959 he founded his own company with George Wagner in San Francisco which worked on Stanford and Menlo Park. His horticultural avocations began after hiking in the Sierra where he discovered his love of flowers. He began his membership with the California Horticultural Society and later joined Strybing Arboretum Society, San Francisco Commerce, Industry, and Labor Men's Garden Club, and was a founding member of the California Chapter of American Rhododendron Society and Western Chapter of American Rock Garden Society. He also edited the California Horticultural Society Journal and dabbled in mountaineering and photography. In this interview, Pearce discusses his history in Colorado, time at UC Berkeley, construction work, various horticultural societies Jim Roof and the Tilden Botanic Garden, Victor Reiter, and other plantsmen and the Oakland Spring Garden Show. This interview is part of a group of interviews documenting California horticulture.