Awards Banquet

Each year we select an outstanding individual to honor as Horticulturist of the Year, and an Awards Banquet is held in their honor. Past banquets have been at Descanso Gardens in La Canada-Flintridge and, more recently, at the Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino.

Horticulturist of the Year 2007
Tom Carruth

Tom has been a member of the Society for 18 years but for far longer than that he has been renowned for his work: discovering, breeding and cultivating roses. After completing undergraduate and graduate degrees at Texas A&M, Tom headed west for California and landed at Jackson and Perkins in Orange County where he worked with Bill Warriner. The former Armstrong Roses was the next stop for Tom and while there he collaborated with another legendary plantsman, Jack Christensen. In 1988 Tom became Director of Research at Weeks Roses where his incredible talents are utilized in their breeding program, which creates and sorts through some 200,000 seedlings annually.

 

Recent SCHS Horticulturists of the Year include James P. Folsom (2006) and Bart O’Brien (2005).

Download PDF listing previous individuals honored by SCHS as Horticulturist of the Year.