2009 Horticultural Excellence Award presented to Emelia Miekicki

The Memphis Horticultural Society gave its top award, the annual Award of Horticultural Excellence, to Emelia Miekicki.
Emelia Miekicki is this year's recipient of The Memphis Horticultural Society's Award of Horticultural Excellence.
Miekicki, a native Memphian, is a knowledgeable and tireless volunteer in the horticulture community.
She has served as membership and newsletter chairmen for the horticultural society for six years.
"She's invaluable to any organization she belongs to," said Paul Little, a past president of the Memphis Horticultural Society. "She's always steady, always consistent and she's the most organized person I know."
For the past four years, she and Bill Ferrell have served as co-chairmen for the Memphis Botanic Garden's spring, fall and winter plant sales.
"Everything we ask her to do she does exceedingly well whether it's devising new ways to keep track of money at the sales, decorating for Christmas or rallying volunteers for last-minute projects," said Rick Pudwell, director of horticulture for the botanic garden.
At Dixon Gallery and Gardens, she is a weekly volunteer in the potting compound and serves as head cashier at its plant sales.
She has been a Master Gardener for almost nine years and is active in the Memphis Rose Society. She is a member of two garden clubs: Designing Women and Collierville Garden Club.
She's also an accomplished gardener and flower arranger, who favors plants with pink or purple flowers.
"I learned to garden with my Italian grandmother," Miekicki said. "She could break off a stem from a chrysanthemum, put it in the ground and it would root."

Past MHS Excellence Award Recipients

1984 Karl Keastle
1985 Kenneth O’ Dell
1986 Tom Pellett
1987 Ann Blecken
1988 Barbara Taylor
1989 Larry Wilson
1990 Frances Spence
1991 John Pierce
1992 Plato Touliatos
1993 Jim Browne
1994 Michele Connelly
1995 Christine Spindel
1996 Mary B. Winton
1997 Larry Lowman
1998 Dianne Reed
1999 Larry Force
2000 Joanne Bowes
2001 Fred Nowak
2002 Rick Pudwell
2003 Bill Colvard
2004 Paul Little
2005 Christine Gang
2006 Diane Meucci
2007 Jim Duncan
2008 Jim Crowder
2009 Emelia Miekicki
2010 Dabney Turley