The American Rose Society announces two national honors bestowed at its recent National Convention in Shreveport, La.
Dr. Mark Windham of Knoxville, Tenn., has been awarded the Joseph and Marion Klima Medal for Excellence in Rose Education. This award is given in fulfillment of the wishes of the late Joseph and Marion Klima of Kentfield, Calif. This award was established in the field of horticultural education concerning “The Rose.”
Windham, emeritus professor of plant pathology at the University of Tennessee, is known for his rose education presentations across the nation, speaking at field days, grower meetings, rosarian workshops, master gardener events, extension agent trainings, and consulting Rosarian schools. He spent the last 10-15 years giving education presentations to rose societies across the country. He has been instrumental in helping understand blackspot, cercospora leafspot, downy mildew, and, more importantly, in the last 10 years, the rose rosette disease. Windham is considered the country’s leading authority on rose rosette disease.
Windham, along with Dr. Alan Windham, also from the University of Tennessee, and Dr. Alan Henn from Mississippi State University, authored the 2018 e-book, A Guide to Rose Diseases and their Management (www.rose.org/publications). Windham continues to take part in research on roses, as he has secured funding with Dr. David Byrne of Texas A&M University and others for USDA Specialty Crop Competitiveness Grants pertaining to rose rosette research. Windham is involved in the research on many of the project objectives but goes the extra mile to then educate rose lovers through educational programs.
Read more at www.rose.org
