GardenDesignOnline

AHS Awards

The American Horticultural Society (AHS) has announced its 2007 award winners honoring great American gardeners.
Among the award winners this year are:

Michael Dirr, author, researcher, and professor at the University of Georgia (Athens). Cited for significant contributions in teaching, research, writing, plant exploration & more. We in the landscape design business all know him best for his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses
It's the most comprehensive woody plants guide in the United States, and if you don't have it, click the link above and order one.  You'll never regret it.

Dr. Elwin R. Orton, researcher and professor at Rutgers University.  He's hybridized more than 20 species of holly, as well as pyracantha and dogwoods. Extraordinary achievement in plant breeding.

Paul Saunders of Saunders Brothers Nursery in Virginia, leading growers and researches on boxwood. Cited for excellence in the field of commercial horticulture.

Kathleen Norris Brenzel, senior editor at Sunset Magazine. Cited for effective communication using media and research techniques for expanding horticultural awareness.

Steve Martino, landscape architect in Phoenix, Arizona. Cited for expanding the awareness of horticulture in landscape architecture.

Read the full article on this year's winners, along with winning books, in the current issue of American Gardener  magazine.

New AHS President

The American Horticultural Society has named Deane H. Hundley as its new President and CEO.  Hundley was most recently employed as a consultant with Ketchum, Inc a fundraising firm that works with non-profit groups.  Prior to that position, Hundley was CEO of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, FL, where he was in charge of financial and business operations.  Susie Usrey, Chair of the AHS Board of Directors, said Hundley's "unique blend of leadership and experience" will push the AHS to the next level "and help us turn our dreams into reality."  Hundley replaces Katy Moss Warner, who retired last summer.

Up on the Roof

You could hold a big party up on the new roof of 636 I Street NW in Washington DC -- headquarters of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).

The plants are still growing in, but you can see the greenery from street level, and tours will soon be underway by appointment. ASLA unveiled the 3300 square foot project this week and hopes it will inspire others to plant their roofs as well.

Nancy Somerville, ASLA's Executive Vice President/CEO, said green roofs in general have positive environmental benefits in cities "where green space is at a premium."  While she admitted that this one roof "is not going to make a dent" in DC's air quality, she said planted roofs can reduce roof temperatures by 90 degrees, reduce heating and air conditioning costs, improve storm water retention, and make roof replacement unnecessary for 40 years or more. And, if enough owners put green roofs atop their buildings, they together could have a significant impact.  DC currently ranks second in green roofs in the United States, just behind Chicago.

This roof was designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Inc., of Cambridge, MA and New York City. Landscape architect Chris Counts said the designers wanted to use the roof as an educational tool and also take the concept a step further to "what the next generation of green roofs would be like."  He said it was "quite a challenge" to come with a design that had "a spatial quality" in the flat, 38 x 82 foot space. You have to acknowledge the solution is very ingenious.

(photo left: Courtesy Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc)
(click on images for larger view)