Milford Garden Club wins state award

PHILADELPHIA — The Milford Garden Club, has been honored by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society with the society’s Community Greening Award. The following members of The Milford Garden Club were very honored and proud to accept the 2008 Community Greening Award at the presentation ceremony in Philadelphia. They included: Miriam DiPeppe, Carolyn Shuttleworth, Alice-Jane Loewrigkeit (president), Carol Linkiewicz (vice president), Cynthia Redden (vice president and beautification chair), Sally Boyce, Connie Nichols, Gretel Walker, and Eleanor Porteous. The award, a collaboration of PHS and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, recognizes individuals, garden clubs, civic associations, business, municipalities and community groups who have created and maintained public green spaces that enhance their communities. Seventy-seven winners were selected last fall from a record 101 entries from throughout Pennsylvania and communities in New Jersey and Delaware. “We would like to congratulate all of the Community Green Award participants for the impact they have made in their communities,” said Blaine Bonham, executive vice president of the society. “Studies show quality green spaces enhance the health, beauty and economic vitality of an area and often serve as meeting places. This award represents a mark of excellence.” Judges visited the sites over the summer and winners were notified in late August. Since 1975, the society has invited Philadelphia gardeners to participate in a friendly competition to show off their creative urban gardens. In 2006, PHS partnered with Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful to reach participants across the state. This year’s participants included train stations, public parks, Main Street planters, church gardens, and landscapes around municipal buildings and museums. Spaces were judged on a host of criteria, including variety of plant material, maintenance, design, visual appeal, and use of space. Each winner received a framed certificate and a sign to display in the garden. The producer of the Philadelphia Flower Show, the society is a non-profit membership organization with more than 14,000 members spanning 48 states.