Spring Meadow Nursery owner Dale Deppe receives Jackson Dawson Award

Dale Deppe, right, was awarded the Jackson Dawson Memorial Award from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Pictured with Dale is Wayne Mezitt, left, chair of the board, and Katherine McDonald, president and executive director of MHS. Photo courtesy of Katherine McDonald. 

Thursday, Oct. 18, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society (MHS) hosted their 118th Honorary Medals Dinner in Wellesley, Mass., continuing a tradition of awarding medals to individuals and organizations for their contributions to excellence in horticulture for the public good.

Founded in 1829, the MHS is America’s oldest organized horticultural society. Since the Society began, it has been a forum for introducing new plants and flowers into the USA.

Seven awards were presented in the areas of horticultural skill, propagation, garden writing, leadership, and education, as well as the George Robert White Medal of Honor, which was awarded to Margaret Roach for her accomplishments as a garden communicator.

Dale Deppe, owner of Spring Meadow Nursery, was presented the Jackson Dawson Memorial Award. This award is given for exceptional skill in the science or practice of hybridization or propagation of hardy, woody plants.

“It is an honor to receive this medal, which was created in memory of the great Jackson Dawson. He was the first plant propagator of the Arnold Arboretum and left quite a legacy for the woody ornamental world,” Deppe said. Indeed, Jackson Thornton Dawson raised 450,718 plants during his 43 years as propagator and superintendent of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. Honored posthumously by the MHS in 1927 with the creation of the Dawson Memorial Medal, Deppe would receive the honor a little over 90 years later, becoming its 81^st recipient.

Dale Deppe has committed his 47-year career to plant propagation and serving the nursery industry. He founded Spring Meadow Nursery in 1981 and it has grown from a small propagation nursery to one of the largest providers of proprietary plant materials in North America.

Spring Meadow, located in Grand Haven, Mich., specializes in woody plant liners for nurseries and growers, and now has over 450 varieties in its catalog, with more than 280 marketed under the Proven Winners ColorChoice line.