UGA professor awarded American Horticultural Society’s top honor

By UGA NEWS SERVICE on May 7, 2012
Source: http://redandblack.com

The American Horticultural Society has awarded University faculty member Allan Armitage its Liberty Hyde Bailey Award.

Armitage, an authority on flowering plants and gardening, will accept the award June 7 at the Great American Gardeners Awards Ceremony and Banquet, held at the society’s headquarters at River Farm in Alexandria, Va.

A professor of horticulture at the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for more than two decades, Armitage has become a household name as an expert on Southern gardens.

Farm News: Environment is usually the key to solving plant problems

It's easy to blame insects and diseases for plant problems. It must be bugs or some foul disease making your plants look unhealthy, right? The truth is that more than half of all problems with plants are caused by their environment.

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Farm News: Environment is usually the key to solving plant problems

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His green genes go way back

http://www.newsobserver.com/

BY KEVIN KILEY - Staff Writer

(Photo BY SHAWN ROCCO)

RALEIGH -- Twenty years ago, Will Hooker began efforts to make N.C. State University's red brick campus more green.

Hooker's pleas fell on deaf ears. Administrators didn't want to require environmental classes for every student. They didn't want to hire someone to organize environmental projects.
"They basically laughed me out of their offices," he said.

Now environmentalism is all the rage. The green movement on campus is in full swing, with student organizations dedicated to the environment, departments focused on being more eco-friendly and an office assigned to organize environmental projects.

And as if some cruel joke is being played on him, it comes as Hooker is too tired to lead the push.
At 65, after 30 years of teaching landscape horticulture and pushing environmental causes for the university, Hooker could retire whenever he wants. But he can't. Not yet.

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Take Root Wins 2009 Governor's Environmental Stewardship Award - WRCB Channel 3 Chattanooga News, Weather |

CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) - Chattanooga's urban forestry project, Take Root, recently won the 2009 Governor's Environmental Stewardship Award in the Agriculture & Forestry category. The state-wide award recognizes voluntary actions taken by organizations and individuals to protect and improve Tennessee's natural environment.

"These award winners truly have taken environmental stewardship to a new and innovative level, setting an example for all Tennesseans," said Governor Phil Bredesen. "I am extremely proud of this year's diverse group of honorees - including school children, grassroots organizers, public and private universities and industry leaders - demonstrating that each person can make a difference in protecting Tennessee's natural resources."

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Take Root Wins 2009 Governor's Environmental Stewardship Award - WRCB Channel 3 Chattanooga News, Weather

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Like The Matrix - for Plants

By Kathy Ceceri

I sometimes wonder whether my nature and gardening posts are a little too low-tech for GeekDad. Not this time. A couple weeks ago the boys and I took a mini-field trip to a local hydrofarm. On a tiny family farm up a nearly impassable dirt (or mud) road on a secluded hilltop, we saw an operation that could not be more cutting edge.

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Like The Matrix - for Plants

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Ginkgo trees to symbolise Canberra-Beijing connection

Posted Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:50pm AEST

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope and the Chinese Ambassador Zhang Junsai have planted three iconic Chinese trees at the Canberra Arboretum.

Mr Stanhope says more than 1,600 ginkgo biloba trees will be planted as a symbol of Canberra's relationship with its sister city, Beijing.

"By next year a forest of ginkgo will be thriving here, one of the largest forests to be established in the Arboretum and a fitting marker of the 10th anniversary of the sister-city relationship between Canberra and Beijing," he said.

The ginkgo biloba tree is a slow-growing, deciduous conifer, and is the sole survivor of a family of trees which first appeared about 20 million years ago.
Mr Stanhope says the trees will be planted in a grid to resemble Beijing landmark, the Forbidden City.

"With its trademark maidenhair foliage and its vivid autumn yellow, the ginkgo will occupy a prominent position in the Arboretum's central valley," he said.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/10/2594635.htm