And the winner is...


By Laurie Sheldon

Palmetto Awards

Paul Lowry with his Green Palmetto
The Florida Native Plant Society bestows various awards to members and chapters for their contributions to the mission of the organization. The Green Palmetto Awards were established in 1986 by Sherry Cummings (then FNPS President) to honor those who had given special service to FNPS. Three Green Palmettos, ordinarily presented at the FNPS annual conference, are awarded each year for (1) service or education, (2) science, and (3) the outstanding chapter of the year.

Winn and Paul Lowry
The 2012 Green Palmetto Award for service was given to Paul and Winn Lowry. It was presented by the board of Southern Brevard County's Conradina Chapter on July 31, 2012. Conradina nominated Paul and Winn because of their longstanding membership and chapter involvement. Although their address changed one year ago, their loyalty to FNPS remains the same. They are currently members of the Pine Lily Chapter in Osceola County.

Unfortunately, because of the unique timing of the award's presentation, the bulk of the chapter was not in attendance. Let's give Paul and Winn the hearty round of applause and congratulations they deserve. We are all sincerely grateful for your commitment to FNPS, and hope that Pine Lily Chapter knows how lucky they are to have you.

(Left to right): Conradina president Martha Steuart, Winn Lowry, Brent Dolan (in back), Paul Lowry, Sharon Dolan
Photo credit: Lisa McCown, former Conradina member and dear friend of the Lowrys

Comments

Anonymous said…
Very nice. Congratulations to Paul and Winn Lowry!
August 5, 2012 at 10:26 PM
Sharon and Brent Dolan said…
Congratulation Paul and Winn. Thank you for all your dedication to the Conradina Chapter.
August 6, 2012 at 10:10 AM
Loret for Pine Lily said…
Pine Lily is proud to welcome Paul and Winn to our Chapter. Brevard's loss certainly is Osceola County's gain.

Welcome Aboard!
August 8, 2012 at 7:07 PM
Florida Native Plant Society said…
Agreed! Thanks to everyone for your congratulatory words.
August 11, 2012 at 11:06 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wednesday's Wildflower:Spanish Needle

Image
Spanish Needle, Bidens Alba Submitted by Donna Bollenbach, Suncoast Chapter Biden's alba , all photos by Donna Bollenbach Nothing attracts more butterflies and bees than a simple white flower called Bidens alba . Also called Romerillo, Beggar’s Tick, Spanish Needle or Monkey’s Lice, this Florida native wildflower is the third most reliable source of nectar for pollinators in our state. There would be many starving bees and butterflies if not for the Bidens family of flowers. More so, Bidens alba and its sister plant, Bidens pilosa , are both edible and have medicinal value. Yet, many gardeners have a love/hate relationship the plant, and some even consider it a pesky weed. Why?
Read more

Florida Native Azaleas

Image
Piedmont Azalea, Rhododendron canescens. Photo by Lilly Anderson-Messec By Lilly Anderson-Messec While growing up in North Florida, I began to recognize the arrival of spring by the boisterous show of white, pink, and fuchsia blooms of azalea shrubs. The house I grew up in had large, mature azalea hedges with a variety of different colors and forms. Every spring, my mom would bring in vases full of them and my dad loved to point out the showy shrubs as we drove through town. I suppose I assumed these plants were native, but most likely I never gave it a thought. I didn’t differentiate a native plant from a non-native one because I didn’t yet know the importance of native plants as the basis of our functioning ecosystems. I was so surprised when I learned the azaleas I was so familiar with (Rhododendron indicum) are actually transplants from Asia! They are favored by the horticultural industry for their fast, vigorous, and dense growth of evergreen leaves and large, showy blooms. Curio
Read more

Paradise Tree: Beautiful and Useful

Image
"The native Paradise tree is more useful than Google, and easy to grow." And how could any blogger resist leading off with this intriguing quote from the Key West Garden Club? I am a Master Gardener and a Master Naturalist, but I only know so much; so I always check out  statistics from experts before posting information about plants. I have a beautiful Paradise tree in my yard, it came from the raffle table at my chapter's program night about six years ago.   Paradise tree                Simarouba glauca For the first six years the little tree had a perfect, closed, cone shape; but just this summer I was astounded one morning to walk out and notice that my tree had changed. The canopy had begun to open up, there were open spaces between the layers of branches. It seemed to happen overnight. Proving again that a garden is constantly in motion, which is one of the fascinating things about observing them. Pinnate leaves of the paradise tree The leaves
Read more