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Winners
Liberty Hyde Bailey Award - PANAYOTI KELAIDIS
Given to an individual who
has made significant lifetime contributions to at least
three of the following horticultural fields: teaching,
research, communications, plant exploration, administration,
art, business, and leadership.
Panayoti Kelaidis is the senior curator and director of
outreach at Denver Botanic Gardens (DBG) in Colorado, where
he has worked for 29 years in many capacities. At DBG he has
participated in major garden expansions and helped the
gardens amass a plant collection of more than 15,000 taxa.
He is also an adjunct faculty member of Colorado State
University.
His specialty is high alpine plants, but his interests range
from growing vegetables and cacti to unusual trees and
shrubs. While Kelaidis has introduced a spectrum of American
native plants to general cultivation—from buckwheats (Eriogonum
spp.) to penstemons and phlox—he has also promoted awareness
of hardy South African plants, especially ice plants (Delosperma
spp.). He discovered many new plants on plant hunting
expeditions within the United States and in Africa, South
America, and Europe. Kelaidis was involved in the planning
and development of the Plant Select® program, which
introduces and promotes new plants suited to the Rocky
Mountain region.
Kelaidis has written more than 100 articles published in
plant society publications and popular gardening magazines
and contributed chapters to several garden books. Among the
numerous awards he has received are the Arthur Hoyt Scott
Medal from the Scott Arboretum (2000) and the Marcel
LePiniec Award from the North American Rock Garden Society
(1994).
Luther Burbank Award – JIM
AULT
Recognizes extraordinary
achievement in the field of plant breeding.
Jim Ault is the director of environmental horticulture at
the Chicago Botanic Garden, located in Glencoe, Illinois.
His research includes conventional plant breeding,
propagation, evaluation, and exploration with an emphasis on
North American native species. His focus on interspecific
hybridization has produced plants with unique traits, such
as the first orange coneflower, Echinacea Orange Meadowbrite®,
and the first three-species Echinacea hybrid, Pixie
Meadowbrite®. Prior to joining the Chicago Botanic Garden,
Ault was the plant propagator-physiologist at Longwood
Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, where he developed
new crops for conservatory displays. .
Paul
Ecke Jr. Commercial Award - RONALD E. GASS
Given to an individual or
company whose commitment to the highest standards of
excellence in the field of commercial horticulture
contributes to the betterment of gardening practices
everywhere.
Ronald E. Gass is president of Mountain States Wholesale
Nursery in Litchfield Park, Arizona, which specializes in
desert-adapted native and exotic plants. Since co-founding
the nursery in 1969, Gass has collaborated with botanists
and other nursery owners to collect and propagate
water-thrifty plants throughout the Southwest and Mexico in
an effort to promote their use in American gardens and
landscapes. His work has resulted in the introduction of
more than 150 new varieties of plants over the years, many
of which have become popular and valuable landscape plants.
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G. B. Gunlogson
Award – SOIL FOOD WEB, INC.
Recognizes the innovative use of
technology to make home gardening more productive and successful.
Soil Food Web, Inc., in Corvallis, Oregon, analyzes soil samples to
determine the presence of a range of beneficial soil organisms that
are key to sustainable landscapes. Led by Elaine Ingham, the president
and director of research, Soil Food Web is a small business that grew
out of Ingham’s university research programs. Working with
collaborators around the world, Soil Food Web has drawn attention to
the importance of living organisms in healthy soil and fostered the
use of compost, vermicompost, and compost tea as sustainable solutions
to soil problems encountered by individual gardeners as well as larger
public and private landscapes.
Horticultural
Therapy Award – KAREN L. KENNEDY
Recognizes significant contributions to
the field of horticultural therapy.
Karen L. Kennedy has spent 23 years using horticultural therapy to
improve the lives of people with disabilities and chronic illnesses.
Currently, she is the manager of wellness programs at the Holden
Arboretum in Kirtland, Ohio. She also teaches introduction and
programming courses in horticultural therapy for the Horticultural
Therapy Institute in Denver, Colorado. She serves as a mentor for
professionals and interns training in the field and speaks about
horticultural therapy topics regionally and nationally. She has served
on the American Horticultural Therapy Association’s (AHTA) board of
directors and on various committees for the organization. Kennedy
received the AHTA’s Rhea McCandliss Professional Services Award in
1994.
Landscape Design
Award – PAUL COMSTOCK
Given to an individual whose work has
demonstrated and promoted the value of sound horticultural practices
in the field of landscape architecture.
Paul Comstock is the head of Comstock Studio, a landscape architecture
and planning practice that is part of the ValleyCrest Design Group in
Malibu, California. Formerly the director of landscape design for Walt
Disney Imagineering, Comstock is known for the natural artistry and
cross-cultural creativity of his designs. Among his most significant
projects is his design of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a botanically rich
theme park in Orlando, Florida. In his work, he often draws
inspiration from his years as a classically-trained, professional
musician. Just as he would consider individual notes and rhythms when
writing a song, Comstock says he considers the habit and ecological
needs of each plant in order to compose landscapes that are both
evocative and horticulturally sound.
Meritorious
Service Award – CAROL F. CARTER MORRISON
Recognizes a past Board member or
friend of the American Horticultural Society for outstanding service
in support of the Society’s goals, mission, and activities.
Carol F. Carter Morrison of Barrington, Illinois, served on the AHS
Board of Directors from 1999 to 2008. During that time, she was active
in several AHS committees, including serving as chair of the
membership committee. A business consultant who works with executives
and managers of large international corporations and government
entities, her group facilitation skills allowed her to make
exceptional contributions to the Society’s strategic planning
processes, to the increased effectiveness of the AHS’s governing
Board, and fostering constructive dialogue when the Board was faced
with difficult decisions.
B. Y. Morrison
Communications Award – WILLIAM C. WELCH
Recognizes effective and inspirational
communication - through print, radio, television, and/or online media
- that advances public interest and participation in horticulture.
Since 1972, William C. Welch has taught horticulture at Texas A&M
University and he currently works for the Texas AgriLife Extension
Service in College Station. He has written several garden books,
including Perennial Garden Color (Taylor Trade Publishing, 1988) and
Antique Roses for the South (Taylor, 1990). Welch is also the editor
of the Southern Garden website and he contributes regularly to
Southern Living magazine and numerous other publications. Welch makes
frequent presentations to garden clubs and nursery industry groups,
and in 2008 he received the Garden Club of America Distinguished
Service Medal.
Professional
Award – CLAIRE SAWYERS
Given to a public garden administrator
whose achievements during the course of his or her career have
cultivated widespread interest in horticulture.
Since 1990, Claire Sawyers has been director of the Scott Arboretum of
Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the
Scott Arboretum, she worked at the Mt. Cuba Center, in Greenville,
Delaware, for seven years. She is the author of The Authentic Garden:
Five Principles for Cultivating a Sense of Place (Timber Press, 2007)
which draws from her varied garden experiences. She has been
recognized with distinguished alumni awards from Purdue University
(2008, 1999) and the University of Delaware (2001), and received the
Garden Club of America Zone V Horticulture Commendation Award (2008).
Jane L. Taylor
Award – SHAWN AKARD
Given to an individual, organization,
or program that has inspired and nurtured future horticulturists
through efforts in children’s and youth gardening.
Shawn Akard is the outdoor education coordinator for Hollin Meadows
Science and Math Focus School in Alexandria, Virginia. The school’s
Outdoor Education Program started out in 2005 as a volunteer effort to
beautify school grounds using native Virginia species. Under Akard’s
leadership, it has grown to include numerous working gardens that
serve as active outdoor classrooms for 600 students and a resource for
the community at large. This program is serving as a successful model
and Akard is working with other local schools to establish their own
children’s gardening programs.
Teaching Award
– MICHAEL N. DANA
Given to an individual whose ability to
share his or her horticultural knowledge with others has contributed
to a better public understanding of the plant world and its important
influence on society.
Michael N. Dana teaches horticulture in the department of horticulture
and landscape architecture at Purdue University in West Lafayette,
Indiana. With colleagues in landscape architecture and history, Dana
developed a multidisciplinary study-abroad course in English landscape
and garden history that has been taught bi-annually for nearly a
decade. A similar travel-study course for Master Gardeners grew out of
that program and has recently expanded to include French garden
history. Dana received the Purdue University Outstanding Academic
Counselor Award in 2001 for his undergraduate teaching and advising
and the Silver Seal from the National Association of State Garden
Clubs in 1992.
Urban
Beautification Award – AMERICA IN BLOOM
Given to an individual, institution, or
company for significant contributions to urban horticulture and the
beautification of American cities.
Based in Columbus, Ohio, America in Bloom (AIB) is an independent,
non-profit organization dedicated to promoting nationwide
beautification programs and personal and community involvement through
the use of flowers, plants, trees, and other environmental and
lifestyle enhancements. AIB provides educational programs, resources,
and the challenge of a friendly competition between participating
communities across the country. In the first eight years of the
program, more than 160 communities have participated in AIB, touching
the lives of an estimated 21 million people across the country.
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