RE: [GWL]Garden Globes

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Expanded Tree and Shrub Handbook Takes Top Honors with Garden Writers Award

Washington, DC – June 1, 2003 – An updated and expanded Tree and Shrub Handbook, published by the Morton Arboretum, has received the Garden Globe Trade Award.

The handbook, originally published in 1999, features over 90 informational guides ranging from plant selection to care and maintenance, according to Doris Taylor, Plant Information Specialist for the Morton Arboretum, which is located in the Chicago area. Four season landscapes, trees to attract birds, plants for shady sites, and native shrubs for the Midwest are just some of the book’s new topics.

“There are many more topics and plant selection hints for homeowners in this expanded edition,” says Taylor.  “Homeowners interested in landscape design may appreciate the book’s new section on vines; and the ornamental grasses topic will spark many gardeners’ imaginations.”

Taylor adds that she believes the book’s convenient format is one reason for its popularity.

“Bound in a three-ring notebook, the removable brochures use beautiful color photos to help explain each subject.  This is a great help when gardeners want to bring a specific page to a nursery or garden center.”

With over 200 pages of helpful information on plant selection, recommended usage, horticultural care, pests, and diseases, the Tree & Shrub Handbook is a handy guide for any gardener or homeowner.  The book’s particular appeal, however, is its regional focus. 

“We’re highlighting plants that thrive in the Midwest,” says Taylor. 

The Morris Arboretum’s Tree and Shrub Handbook is now one of nine finalists for the Garden Globe Award of the Year, the highest honor given a horticultural communicator. The award will be announced at the 55^th annual Garden Writers Association Symposium in Chicago on August 18, 2003.

“Each year the GWA seeks to recognize the best talent in the field of garden communications to receive one of our coveted Garden Globe Awards,” says GWA Executive Director Robert LaGasse.

Since the early 1980s, the GWA annual awards program has recognized outstanding writing, photography, graphic design and illustration for books newspaper stories, magazine articles and other works focused on gardening. In recent years awards have expanded to include on-air talent, production and direction for radio, television, video, Internet and other electronic media.

GWA is an international organization of more than 1,800 professional communicators who focus on the $69 billion lawn and garden industry.

To view all the 2003 Garden Globe recipients, log on to www.gwaa.org/awards.