Winners of the Inaugural Green for Life Award Announced at Garden & Floral Expo
Toronto, ONTARIO (October 23, 2009) – The winners of the inaugural Green for Life Award were announced October 20th at the 10th Anniversary Garden Party at Garden & Floral Expo, Canada’s fall buying show for the green and floral industries.
In the category of ‘Retail Garden Centre’ Burns Water Gardens from Baltimore, Ont. and Green Thumb Garden Centre from Nepean, Ont. were the recipients. In the category of ‘Growers’, West Kootenay Plants, Winlaw, B.C. took the prize.
The Green for Life Award was created to promote, recognize and reward environmentally responsible retailers and growers in the horticulture and floriculture industries. Winners were drawn from the retailers and growers who had completed the Environmental Scorecard developed by Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association. The Scorecard is a tool allowing green industry businesses to rate their environmental practices, and benchmark future improvements.
Burns Water Gardens has specialized in water gardening and aquatic plants for the past 18 years and places an emphasis on minimizing their impact on the environment. "We encourage wildlife and our growing ponds have become reservoirs for wildlife," said Rowena Burns, owner of Burns Water Gardens. "We also teach our customers natural ways of maintaining their ponds – creating a reservoir in their garden for wildlife and nature and a natural source of beauty in their gardens."
"We are extremely pleased that Burns Water Gardens, Green Thumb Garden Centre and West Kootenay Plants are the first recipients of the Green for Life Award", said Nathan Helder, chair, Green for Life Awards Judging Committee. "They are great examples of the positive shift in the industry toward better environmental stewardship. What we liked seeing was that the companies were "working on" or "will work" on making even more improvements. All of the companies clearly demonstrated what it means to be environmentally responsible in their industry and will hopefully set the standard for others to follow."
Part of Landscape Ontario’s public mission, Green for Life, promotes the joys and benefits of plants and green spaces. The new award program is open to retailers, wholesalers, and growers across Canada. It is designed to raise awareness and recognize those in the grower and garden centre sectors whose actions demonstrate continuous improvement in environmental stewardship, including responsible environmental practices in the management and operations of these businesses.
"It was an honour to sponsor the Green for Life Awards programs and to celebrate accomplishments, recognize leadership and create the awareness of better environmental practices." said Tammy Lawrence, president, Turf Revolution, Ayr, Ont.
About Garden & Floral Expo and Landscape Ontario:
Garden & Floral Expo is Canada's fall buying show for the green and floral industries. Over 2,700 buyers attended the show, which showcased new products, recent plant and floral introductions and product demonstrations.
Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association, one of the most vibrant associations of its kind, is comprised of over 2,000 members, ten sector groups and nine local chapters. Its trade mission is to promote the horticulture industry in Ontario, and its public mission, Green for Life, promotes the joys and benefits of plants and green spaces. Visit www.landscapeontario.com for more information.
Master Gardeners of Ontario is dedicated to providing horticultural information to the public. It began in 1985 as a program of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) but it is now an independent nonprofit charity.
The University of Guelph is a world leader in horticultural research.
Flowers Canada (Ontario) Inc. is a not-for-profit organization that works with Flowers Canada Growers to care for the provincial and federal issues facing Ontario floriculture producers. The Ontario floriculture industry represents 54.5% of the total floriculture sector in Canada, generates $784.8 million in sales each year and has an estimated total economic impact of $2.88 billion every year.
Media Contact:
Stephen Murdoch
OEB Enterprise
smurdoch@oebenterprise.com
289-241-3997
