The 2023 Pearson Memorial Medal for outstanding service to the garden industry has been awarded to Stan Green, Director of Growforth Ltd, Chairman of Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) Scotland Policy Development Group and former President of the HTA.
Alan Down, HTA President, said:
“Choosing the recipient of the Pearson Memorial Medal this year was easy! Stan Green was the obvious and outstanding choice because of the exceptional work he has done to promote horticulture.
“Stan has worked tirelessly in Scotland and throughout the whole of the UK to get the message across to government, politicians and whoever will listen that horticulture matters! This includes helping to successfully launch the HTA's Scottish Environmental Horticulture Strategy earlier this year. As a previous President of the HTA, current chairman of the HTA Scottish Horticulture Policy Development Group, a major force behind Scotland’s Garden Trust and one of the founders of the charity Trellis, it is hard to know how he finds time to run his successful Growforth business, but somehow, he does.”
Stan established Growforth Ltd in Dunfermline in 1990 after spending time as a nursery manager following university. Growforth serves the horticultural trade throughout Scotland and the north of England, with a strong focus on environmental sustainability. Stan has had a long and illustrious career in Scottish horticulture, starting behind the scenes at Beechgrove Garden, before serving as HTA President and Chairman of the HTA Board from 2013-2015. He was awarded the Scottish Horticultural Silver Medal for contributions to Horticulture in 2017.
On winning the award, Stan Green said:
"It means so much. It's great to get recognition from my peers. I'm motivated by the ways you can see the difference that environmental horticulture makes to everyone. This was accelerated during Covid as people began to reconnect with nature. I also see that connection to nature with the joy of my young granddaughter when she is in the garden. Horticulture is a wonderful product and wonderful industry to be in, it makes a difference to people. It pushes the same buttons as music and sport and more people are wanting to get involved and that's why I love doing what I do. Horticulture is its own reward."
The Pearson Memorial Medal for outstanding service to the garden industry has been awarded by the HTA on an annual basis since it was instigated in 1930 in memory of the HTA's first General Secretary, Charles Pearson. The 2022 medal was awarded to Jim Butress with previous recipients in recent years, including Mark Gregory and Adam WIgglesworth.
