Sign up for the next American Horticultural Society Travel Study Program June 16 – 20, 2010, with AHS Host Katy Moss Warner. Chicago was incorporated with the Latin words Urbs in Horto, meaning a “city in a garden,” a motto that has long inspired the people who live here. This tour will highlight the innovative gardens that have contributed to the greening of chicago and influenced the horticultural heritage that distinguishes the surrounding communities. Katy Moss Warner, president emeritus of the American Horticultural Society and a city judge for America in Bloom, invites you to join her on this excursion.
To experience the breadth of what Chicago has to offer, you will be staying downtown at the Raffaello Hotel, a four-star boutique hotel just steps away from Michigan Avenue in the heart of the Gold Coast. You will see gardens that are in the heart of Chicago as well as the gardens in the surrounding area. These range from modern gardens such as the Lurie Gardens in Chicago’s Millennium Park (below), to the world renowned Chicago Botanic Garden and Garfield Park Conservatory, which stems from the city’s early horticultural initiatives. The tour will also take you to Rockford, Illinois, an award winning city of flowers and gardens that the residents have taken great pride in creating. You will see private gardens and gain insight into Ball Horticultural Company’s international influence on ornamental horticulture. Along the way you will feast on local cuisine (lunch, for instance, at Rick Bayless’s Frontera Grill, with a tour of Bayless’ organic garden) and learn about the history of a city that has been a fountain of innovation. Complete details are available at www.ahs.org.
Widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost horticulturists, Armitage is a professor at the University of Georgia, Athens, where he teaches, conducts research on new garden plants, and runs the University of Georgia Horticulture Gardens. He is generally credited with creating the concept of the independent trial garden, the first one of which opened in Athens in 1982. He is the author of ten books, including Armitage’s Native Plants for North American Gardens and Armitage’s Garden Annuals. He has been cited as one of the ten most influential people or organizations in the floriculture industry.
Armitage is not the only distinguished honoree. The Jackson Dawson Award will go to Pierre Bennerup, president of Sunny Border Nurseries, one of the leading producers of perennial plants for the northeast. Sunny Border, headquartered in Kensington, Connecticut, is known around the world for being on the cutting edge of new plant development. Pierre, the second generation Bennerup in the industry, is an integral part of the global horticulture community and has been instrumental in searching out new plants suitable for North American gardens.
Also to be honored is Holly Shimizu, Executive Director of the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. Ms. Shimizu, who will receive the Thomas Roland Medal, has been responsible for the overall operation of the USBG for the past nine years and, under her leadership, the widely acclaimed new National Garden opened 2006. Ms. Shimizu is well known through her work as one of the hosts of The Victory Garden and as a frequent commentator on horticultural topics for National Public Radio.
