News Release
For Release — July 27, 2011
UT Gardens Director Elected President of Conifer Group
The director of the University of Tennessee Gardens,
Dr. Sue Hamilton, has been elected president of the
American Conifer Society Southeast Region.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The director of the University of Tennessee Gardens, Dr. Sue Hamilton, has been elected president of the American Conifer Society Southeast Region. The American Conifer Society (ACS) supports the development, conservation, and propagation of conifers, with an emphasis on those that are dwarf or unusual, on standardization of nomenclature and education of the public.
Hamilton will serve a two-year term.
In her role at the UT Gardens, Hamilton has led the expansion of the Gardens’ conifer collection from approximately 70 specimens in 2005 to 401 specimens in 2011 and she oversaw the effort that earned the Gardens recognition as an ACS Reference Garden in 2008. In 2010 she organized a Conifer Symposium hosted by the UT Gardens and supported by a grant from the ACS SE Region.
An associate professor of horticulture in the Department of Plant Sciences in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Hamilton teaches horticulture and provides leadership to the students participating in the public horticulture program. Hamilton is also known in various media circles as the co-host of the talk-radio show “Garden Talk” and as co-author of the reference book The Best Garden Plants for Tennessee. She also writes columns for various publications including the Knoxville News Sentinel and Tennessee Farm and Home magazine.
Hamilton’s passions include plant and garden photography. She is a member of the Garden Writers Association, Perennial Plant Association, American Public Garden Association, American Society of Horticultural Science, and recently became the national vice president of Pi Alpha Xi, a national horticulture honor society. She also serves on the board of the Knoxville Botanical Gardens.
Hamilton invites everyone to visit the conifer collection – and the other plant collections – at the UT Gardens. Public displays are open in both Knoxville and Jackson, as part of the UT Institute of Agriculture campus and the West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center. The Gardens’ mission is to foster appreciation, education and stewardship of plants through garden displays, collections, educational programs and research trials. They are open during all seasons and free to the public. See http://utgardens.tennessee.edu/ and http://westtennessee.tennessee.edu/ornamentals/ for more information.
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Contacts:
Dr. Susan Hamilton, Director of the UT Gardens, 865-974-7324, sueham@utk.edu
Patricia McDaniels, UTIA Marketing and Communications Services, 615-835-4570, pmcdaniels@tennessee.edu
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