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Sheridan Nurseries picks up five garden centre awards at virtual ceremony

Sheridan Nurseries took home five garden centre awards as part of the Landscape Ontario Awards of Excellence virtual awards ceremony earlier this month.

“The judges in this [garden centre] program were looking for sales appeal, originality, ease of shopping cleanliness, use of signage, quality of material and overall impact,” according to the website.

Sheridan Nurseries picked up awards for five displays. Four of them were designed by Benjamin Hayes of Sheridan Nurseries Etobicoke: Two for Outstanding Display of Goods – Seasonal, Merchandising Techniques – Outstanding Promotional Event, Outstanding Display of Goods – Seasonal, Permanent Display Gardens – Over 500 square feet. The fifth was for Merchandising Techniques – Outstanding Promotional Event, designed by Whitby Garden Centre of Sheridan Nurseries Whitby.

Three other garden centres were recognized for their work: Baltimore Valley Garden Centre for Outstanding Display of Goods – Hardgoods; Canadale Nurseries Ltd for Merchandising Techniques – Outstanding Promotional Event; and Maidstone Tree Farm for Merchandising Techniques – Outstanding Web Site Development.

Maidstone Tree Farm – Merchandising Techniques – Outstanding Web Site Development
Designed by: Elliot Bryant of Digitalhub.ca

Industry leaders recognized

The LO awards also honoured some of the industry’s leaders.

The Garden Communicator’s Award was given to Paul Zammit, Niagara College; Sean James, Sean James Consulting & Design; Mark Cullen, Mark’s Choice; and Frank Ferragine, FrankieFlowers.com.

Horticultural Educator of the Year Award went to Alice Power, Ontario College of Trades

The Community Leadership Award 2021 went to the LO Covid-19 Task Force.

For a complete list of winners, visit the LO website https://landscapeontario.com/48th-annual-awards-winners

Each year, LO members submit projects, designs and displays in the annual competition. The annual competition features more than 40 categories of entries judged by a panel of horticulture industry experts. If a category’s entries do not meet the judges’ criteria for excellence, no award is given for that category, according to LO’s website.

This year, the virtual awards ceremony took place on Feb 4.

With files from Landscape Ontario