02/04/2009

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OSU Extension Horticulturist/State Master Gardener Coordinator Honored by ONLA

Writer:

Candace Pollock
pollock.58@cfaes.osu.edu
(614) 292-3799

Source:

Jim Chatfield, OSU Extension
chatfield.1@cfaes.osu.edu
(330) 263-3799

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State University Extension's statewide Master Gardener volunteer coordinator has received the Ohio Nursery Landscape Association's 2009 Teacher/Public Service Award.

Pam Bennett, an OSU Extension horticulturist for Clark County, received the award during the ONLA CENTS and OSU Extension Nursery Short Course conference in January. She was awarded for her leadership, community contributions, and educational and research efforts in horticulture and the green industry.

"Pam is obviously a superstar of OSU Extension, a great teacher for the professional green industry, Master Gardener and other consumer horticulture programs, and a great leader statewide," said Jim Chatfield, an OSU Extension landscape horticulturist with the OSU Extension Center at Wooster. "Pam is truly awesome."

Bennett, a Springfield, Ohio native, received her Bachelor of Science degree in landscape horticulture and her Master of Science degree in agricultural education from Ohio State University. Prior to joining OSU Extension in 1992, Bennett had 11 years of retail garden center management experience.

Bennett specializes in herbaceous ornamental plant trials and evaluates more than 200 varieties of annuals a year. She oversees the Gateway Learning Gardens, a five-acre demonstration/teaching garden located on the grounds of the OSU Extension Clark County office. She is president of the Friends of the Ohio Governor's Residence and Heritage Garden in Columbus, Ohio.

Bennett provides leadership for the Ohio Master Gardener volunteer program, as well as coordinates the Clark County volunteers. She also conducts consumer and commercial horticulture programs. She is co-chair of the OSU Extension Nursery Short Course, an educational program for the green industry, and she is a key member of the OSU Extension Nursery Landscape and Turf Team and OSU Extension’s "Why Trees Matter" Signature Program.

Bennett lectures frequently on a variety of horticulture topics ranging from annuals, perennials and woody ornamentals to plant maintenance. She also writes a weekly gardening column for the Springfield News and Sun newspaper.

For more information on Clark County's horticulture program or how to become a Master Gardener, contact the OSU Extension Clark County office at (937) 328-4607 or log on to http://clark.osu.edu.