Horticulture: Extension
Gold Medal Plants
The Georgia Plant Selections Committee, Inc.
The Georgia Plant Selections Committee is a non-profit organization comprised of nurserymen, flower growers, garden center retailers, landscape professionals, county Extension agents and faculty from the University of Georgia. Organized in 1993, the committee has the following goal:
To promote the production, sale and use of superior ornamental plants
Each year the Committee evaluates a long list of plants nominated by committee members and sponsors. Four categories of plants are considered: annuals, herbaceous perennials, shrubs and trees. A call for nominations is made in January at the annual meeting of the Georgia Green Industry Association. This list is expanded and discussed at an April meeting at which time nominations are closed. At the June meeting, the list is distilled to four or five plants in each category. At an August meeting, in conjunction with the Southern Nurserymen's Convention in Atlanta, the committee votes and selects one winner in each category to receive the coveted “Georgia Gold Medal Award.” Plants are selected three years in advance of the year they are announced to the public so that growers can make certain they are in good supply.
The committee uses the following criteria to evaluate and select plants:
Consumer Appeal: The plant selected must have marketable characteristics that will appeal to consumers. It must fill a need in the marketplace. For instance, if the plant has an extended bloom period, if it adds a new texture or form to the landscape and if it is a superior replacement for another plant that may have cultural or pest problems in the landscape, it goes higher on the list.
Low-maintenance: Consumers today want plants that are easy to grow, have few pest problems and require little routine care once established.
Survivability: The plant should be well adapted to Georgia's wide-ranging soil types and climates. It also should be tolerant of a wide variety of microclimates within an individual landscape. If it adapts to both sun and shade, wet and dry sites, it goes higher on the list.
Ease of Propagation and Production: Growers should be able to propagate the plant with relative ease.
Seasonal Interest: Any combination of characters that make the plant more appealing over more than one season gives the plant an added advantage in the competition. For instance, attractive summer flowers over a long period followed by attractive fall color, exfoliating bark and showy winter berries enhance consumer appeal and marketability of a plant.
Membership on the Georgia Plant Selections Committee is open to anyone in the Professional Environmental Horticulture Industry. All members volunteer their time and no one receives a salary. The Georgia Cooperative Extension Service prepares promotional literature on the Georgia Gold Medal Winners, including color fact-sheets on each winner, and distributes it to growers, retailers, landscapers, county Extension agents and consumers. A fall mail-out is done each year to wholesale growers and a Buyer's Guide is assembled. This is followed in February with a media packet to newspapers and trade journals announcing the new Georgia Gold Medal Winners for that year. Then a mail-out to all retailers is done in March of each year encouraging them to buy and promote Gold Medal Winners for that year.
Funding for the marketing efforts of the Georgia Plant Selections Committee comes solely from annual industry sponsorship. Over $7,000 in annual sponsorships are required to keep the program going. Only sponsors and committee members can nominate plants for the selection process. Anyone interested in becoming a member of the Georgia Plant Selections Committee or becoming a sponsor of the Georgia Gold Medal Winners program via a tax-deductible contribution should contact Dr. Gary Wade, Georgia Plant Selections Committee, c/o Extension Horticulture, 224 Hoke Smith Bldg., The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, Ph:706/542-2861, FAX:706/542-2375 or e-mail: gwade@uga.edu