Landscape Manitoba’s Project EverGreen Award 2011
The Project EverGreen Award is given to an individual whose actions have directly resulted in the betterment and sustainability of our environment, and who has also made a significant contribution to the green industry in Manitoba.
We once again handed out the Project EverGreen award at the 2011 Landscape Manitoba Awards of Excellence Gala, and this year Colleen Zacharias was honored with this award.
Colleen is a Master Gardener and serves as the President of the Friends of the Assiniboine Conservatory, a not-for-profit organization which promotes horticultural education. The Friends lend their support to public parks and gardens as well as fundraising for a Butterfly Conservatory ($342,000 raised to date). Colleen served as editor of the Friends newsletter, The Leaflet, from 2006 to 2010. She is also Co-Chair and Associate Editor of The Prairie Garden, publisher of Western Canada’s only gardening annual since 1937. Colleen has written numerous articles for a variety of publications, including the Manitoba Gardener, and currently edits and solicits gardening-themed articles for the Winnipeg Free Press. The latter is a volunteer initiative aimed at profiling experts in the local Manitoba Hort community and sharing gardening knowledge that is relevant to northern gardeners. Colleen has also served as Chair of Gardening Saturday, presented by the Friends, since its inception in 2007. This one-day gardening tradeshow is designed to showcase the goods and services available to Manitoba gardeners. Colleen has advocated successfully with fellow Master Gardeners for a locally delivered Master Gardener program and will graduate from the University of Manitoba’s Prairie Horticultural Certificate program in September. She was recently awarded the 2011 Kathleen Fisher Memorial Scholarship by the North American Garden Writers Association Foundation and is only the 2nd student to receive this scholarship in Canada. Congratulations to Colleen on this wonderful achievement!
