APGA honors Scott Stewart
GWA Members Among PPA Honorees
S U B M I T T E D C O N T E N T
PHOTO COURTESY GREENMARK PUBLIC RELATIONS
Scott Stewart( right) receives the Professional Citation award from Casey Sclar, executive director of the American Public Gardens Association.
APGA honors Scott Stewart
The American Public Gardens Association awarded Scott Stewart, executive director of the Millennium Park Foundation, the prestigious Professional Citation during its annual conference in June in Hamilton, Ontario. The citation recognizes an association member who has excelled in one or more disciplines generally associated with public horticulture, including botany, horticulture, gardening, conservation, research, education, extension development or administration. As executive director of the foundation, Stewart directs the state-of-the-art collection of art, architecture and landscape design that annually provides the backdrop for hundreds of free public education, cultural events and programs in downtown Chicago.
• • •
GWA Members Among PPA Honorees
Several GWA members were honored during the Perennial Plant Association Symposium in Denver in July. GWA members Irvin Etienne and Leslie Halleck were recognized for their service on the PPA board, which ends in September. Here are the honorees:
• Award of Merit: Dan Heims
• Academic Award: Chad Miller, Kansas State University
• Young Professional Award: Jared Hughes, Groovy Plants Ranch
• Grower Award: Cavano’ s Perennials, Inc.
• International Contributor Award: Marco van Noort, Marco van Noort Breeding
• Service Award: Mike Heger, Ambergate Horticultural Consulting
• Retail Award: Phoenix Perennials & Specialty Plants
• Garden Media Award: Ruth Rogers Clausen
• Landscape Design Awards: o Mario Herrada, Zacate Landscape Design o Andy Pulte, University of Tennessee o Bobbie Schwartz, Bobbie’ s Green Thumb o Bruce John Riddell, Boothbay, Maine
Great Gardens Begin Here
BY JAMIE GRANGIER CUMMINS
My name is Jamie Grangier Cummins, and I am the Marketing and Communications Administrator and a Sales and Member Support Representative for Master Nursery Garden Centers. My intentions in this article are two-fold. First, I will introduce you to MNGC. Second, I will leave you with a proposition that will benefit not only Master Nursery Garden Centers and Garden Writers Association members alike but will have a profound impact on the one person we all were once— the new gardener!
In the early 1950s, seven independent garden center owners partnered to secure discounts and share marketing expenses. They worked well together, so they found a fertilizer manufacturer to produce a high quality, organic-based, all-purpose lawn and plant food, which to this day, is known as Master Nursery Formula 49. The owners considered themselves“ Masters of their craft.” They certainly were because more West Coast members joined, and more Master Nursery branded products followed. In late 1993, membership rose to over 160 garden centers. Today, Master Nursery Garden Centers is a multi-million-dollar, member-owned cooperative of over 530 independent retail garden centers in 46 states and 2 provinces in Canada.
Master Nursery is one of the largest not-for-profit cooperatives in the country, focused solely on providing new and commodity green goods and hard goods to our members and subsequently to their consumers. Members receive generous discounts, rebates, and dating programs from over 130 premium vendors, some of which are Garden Writers Association members who attend, exhibit and sponsor events at the Annual Conference & Expo. In addition, members have exclusive access to the Master Nursery private label brands, which are all premium products developed specifically for home gardeners that are not available at mass merchant retailers. To learn more, please visit www. MasterNursery. com and www. Bumper- Crop. net.
On behalf of Master Nursery Garden Centers, I am reaching out to the GWA membership to let you know that our 530-plus IGCs are here to work with you. With that being said, let’ s get to the heart of the matter! We’ re all gardeners, and we love what we do. Nothing makes us happier than putting on a pair of old boots, planting a seedling and watching it grow. We all received our introductory knowledge from somewhere. Long story short: We need new gardeners to come to us for their answers!
Yes, I said“ us,” meaning the collective“ we” of Master Nursery Garden Centers and the Garden Writers Association. Sounds like fun, doesn’ t it? Master Nursery would love to see collaboration between garden writers and our IGCs. Together, we can ensure that new gardeners have enjoyable and ultimately successful gardening experiences. Time in the garden is time well spent, and for many gardeners it is a family activity.
Therefore, our member garden centers are continually looking for green industry communicators who can share their knowledge and expertise to enhance new gardeners’ experiences— whether it is through workshops, talks, articles, blogs, etc. We will be providing the MNGC membership the link to GWA- Connect so our garden centers may search for you by state and garden writer type. If you are interested in working with a Master Nursery Garden Center in your area, email me at Jamie @ masternursery. com, and I can provide you with a listing of MNGC members. You may also visit the Garden Center Locator on our website.
Again, we are pleased to make this introduction between garden writers and Master Nursery Garden Centers. We look forward to working with you soon. Who knows, along the way, you may discover our Master Nursery branded products, and they may spark some additional inspiration for you!
Jamie Grangier Cummins has a master of arts in English and is the marketing and communications administrator and a sales and member support pepresentative for Master Nursery Garden Centers.
25