Florida Man Offered Post as Botanic Gardens Chief

After a months-long nationwide search, Los Angeles County has offered the helm of its four-park Arboreta and Botanic Gardens Department to a man who runs a small private garden in Florida.

Larry G. Pardue, 46, executive director of the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens on Sarasota Bay, was offered the job earlier this week over three other candidates.

Pardue said Thursday in a telephone interview that he is weighing all the pros and cons of moving to Los Angeles, including housing costs, and hopes to make a decision by this weekend.

In giving up the 14-acre Selby Gardens, he would gain control of nearly 384 acres in the Los Angeles County system: the county arboretum in Arcadia, Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge, South Coast Botanic Gardens in Palos Verdes and the Virginia Robinson Estate in Beverly Hills.