"People who write columns, articles or books for money?"
-- if they are on the topic of gardening.

"Others altogether that I have not thought about?"
Well, I also write garden calendars, garden catalogues, garden PR, ads, manuals, circulars, mailings etc.

I'd say anyone qualifies who writes about garden topics and gets paid for it (or has a reasonable hope of getting paid for it in the future).

I think you also need to include those who write newsletters for business and those who do things for free. One of the first things I did was as a Master Gardener, and I rewrote the Growing Herbs thing for the state. Did this make me a gardenwriter - not in my view, but in others view yes. I wrote for the local press - who didn't pay me either, but the clips turned into things that did pay.
So, in essense, I realy don't know what a 'Garden Writer' means - its kinda how you feal about it yourself - for me it isn't even being paid - I will not feel like a 'writer' until someone actually accepts one/or more, articles in a glossy magazine, and/or requests that I write an article (preferably for the above glossy magazine!!), and I have more work than I can cope with!!

Do you want to amend it to "published or about to be published writer"?

As opposed to a "dilettante" who just talks big but never produces anything worth publishing? (Of course, I have to modify that because I know several dilettantes -- and obnoxious ones, too -- who were published because they knew the right people -- who edited the scribbles they turned in.)

A garden writer is someone who writes about anything to do with a garden..with the hopes that their work can inspire and/or educate. My work is focused to AgED and I crank out more methodical work than anything else. I wish I had the time to do more descriptive prose, but that would take away from the time (and mental energy) I need for documentation work.

There's at least two angles to garden writing---there's ideal and then there's real. Ideal is what you would love to do, but Real is going to be the mainstay.

T

I guess I'm uncommonly lucky because in all my writing I've only done the "ideal." Maybe it's because I'm also an artist.