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People, Places and Plants' Paul Tukey
Receives Award
By Hilda M. Morrill
 On March 10, Paul Tukey and fiancée Katie Hoffmann are pictured at the 2006 New England Spring Flower Show Preview Party. They were married the following week in Florida. (Photo © Hilda M. Morrill)
A lifelong Maine journalist who spent his childhood summers helping to grow vegetables on a dairy farm is now considered among the best of his profession.
Paul J. Tukey, 45, of New Gloucester, Maine, will be presented with the highest honor in gardening journalism and broadcasting when the American Horticultural Society names him the 2006 winner of the “Horticultural Communication Award.”
“The American Horticultural Society recognizes American horticultural heroes in a wide variety of professions through the annual Great American Gardeners Awards,” says AHS President Katy Moss Warner. “These awards celebrate the best and brightest in our nation, from scientists who develop tough plants for our gardens ... to public garden professionals who promote earth friendly gardening practices ... to journalists who popularize gardening throughout America.
This year, Paul Tukey is receiving the AHS Horticultural Communication award in recognition of the extraordinary work he has done to encourage gardening through his dynamic talks, his presence on HGTV, and his “People, Places & Plants” magazine.”
Mr. Tukey, who hosts a popular gardening program based on his magazine on HGTV at 7 a.m. each Sunday, is one of 12 outstanding members of the horticultural community who will be honored by the American Horticultural Society during its Great American Gardeners Awards Ceremony and Banquet on June 2, 2006. He is just the third Maine recipient of a lifetime achievement award since AHS began the awards in 1953. Horticulturist Lewis Lipp (1972) and iris hybridizer Currier McEwen (1995) were the others.
“To be included among the past recipients of AHS awards is the highest honor of my career, and nothing I could even have dreamed of,” said Mr. Tukey. “It is something I share with an incredibly dedicated staff at “People, Places & Plants” and my friends and family who have supported me through all the trials and tribulations of an running an independently owned publishing company in this day and age.”
After an award-winning, nine-year career as a sportswriter and newspaper editor, Mr. Tukey followed his love of the outdoors into landscaping and founded his own company, Home ’n Land, in the late 1980s. “People, Places & Plants” magazine, which he founded in 1995, combined both of his passions of writing and gardening. A television show, co-hosted by Mr. Tukey and another AHS award winner, Roger Swain, followed in 2002.
Mr. Tukey and his company have repeatedly demonstrated their commitment to supporting the independent garden center as well as promoting environmentally friendly gardening — including a book on organic lawn care that is due out from Storey Publishing in early 2007.
“Now more than ever I think it’s important to retain an independent voice and be an advocate for the environment and family business,” he said. “This award, in great measure, is a validation of the efforts we’ve made. We really try to make a difference in people’s lives.”
Congratulations and Best Wishes!
(Information from American Horticultural Society press release)
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