All News Releases By Date

Haddon Heights Man Builds Prize Exhibit

Release Date: 3/9/1999
Contact Information: Donna M. Heron (215) 814-5113

PHILADELPHIA - Glenn Hanson of Haddon Heights, an environmental engineer at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, played a major part in bringing together EPA’s award-winning exhibit at the 1999 Philadelphia Flower Show, "The All-American Garden."

This is the second year that EPA has won best in show in the non-academic educational category. The woodland and wetland exhibit also won the American Horticultural Society award, which goes to the exhibit that best demonstrates the bond between horticulture and the environment and inspires gardeners to beautify their own homes and community.

Hanson and other EPA employees assembled the agency’s blue-ribbon display of plants, which they started propagating last fall. The collection of native plants visually demonstrates the concept of beneficial landscaping -- an earth-friendly way of gardening. Such plants will thrive because they have already adapted to the climate and soil conditions. They require less water, less fertilizer and pesticides, and a lot less work. Such a landscape creates a wildlife habitat for birds and butterflies by providing food and water, shelter, and reproduction sites needed for their survival.

"I hope that everyone who visits our exhibit enjoys its scenic beauty and learns to appreciate the importance of preserving our natural habitats," Hanson said.

The EPA emphasizes beneficial landscaping because imported plants like Norway maple, Japanese honeysuckle, kudzu, purple loosestrife and crown vetch grow at such a fast rate that they can crowd out native vegetation. Unchecked, this could drastically reduce plant diversity and even lead to extinction of local species.

For more information about environmentally beneficial landscaping, call the EPA at 215-814-5662/5663 and ask for a copy of "A Gardener’s Guide To a Health Environment."

#


99-157