From Compost Pile to Gold Medal Winner (and other great plant success stories)

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society names the 2010 Gold Medal Winners

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) has chosen five outstanding woody plants as their 2010 Gold Medal plant winners.

Since 1979, the Gold Medal program has recognized plants of outstanding merit, though often underused and they may not necessarily be new to the nursery trade. The winners are chosen for their superb eye-appeal, performance and hardiness in Zones 5-7. They are also judged for their beauty in many seasons, whether it be their foliage, flower or structural form. Gold Medal winners exhibit standards of excellence for hardiness, disease and pest resistance, and ease of growing when planted and maintained as recommended.

The 2010 Gold Medal winners are:

Clethra alnifolia ‘Compacta’ (Dwarf Summersweet)

Clethra alnifolia 'Compacta' (Dwarf Summersweet)

In the mid-1970s Tom Dilatush, a noted nurseryman and longtime PHS Gold Medal committee member, discovered Clethra alnifolia ‘Compacta’ growing on a New

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