Patch Blogger Melinda Myers Earns Distinguished Honor

Add “history-maker” to Melinda Myers’s already impressive resume.

Myers, a popular gardening expert, TV/radio host, author and columnist — and Patch blogger — became the first woman inducted into the Wisconsin Green Industry Federation Hall of Fame on Wednesday at a ceremony in Denmark, Wisc.

There are currently 49 WGIF Hall of Famers, including the 2012 inductees.

“We are proud to honor Melinda Myers as the first woman to be inducted into the WGIF Hall of Fame,” WGIF Hall of Fame Committee Chairperson Gilbert Yerke said in a statement. “In her more than 30 years serving our industry, Melinda has dedicated herself to encouraging others and sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm for gardening. Our industry benefits greatly from her efforts.”

Myers’ career in the horticulture industry spans more than 30 years and includes work in both hands-on and instructional settings as well as media work designed to inspire and educate. She has a master’s degree in horticulture, is a certified arborist, and is an award-winning author, columnist and TV/radio host.

For 13 years, she was a tenured horticulture instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College where she instructed students preparing to work in the field of Landscape Horticulture. Myers’ 13 years at the University of Wisconsin Extension as a tenured associate professor allowed her to work with backyard, community, and master gardeners throughout Wisconsin. In addition, she began a master gardener program in Milwaukee County.

As Milwaukee’s assistant city forester, Myers helped manage the city’s street trees, boulevards, and green spaces. She worked with the Young Adult Conservation Corps supervising crews that maintain University of Wisconsin Extension urban test gardens and provide trail repair and other conservation work.

Myers has written over 20 gardening books, including The Garden Book for Wisconsin, Month-by-Month Gardening in Wisconsin, and Can’t Miss Small Space Gardening. She was “The Plant Doctor” on Newsradio 620 WTMJ for more than 20 years and hosted seven seasons of “Great Lakes Gardener” on PBS, educating home gardeners throughout Wisconsin.

For the past seven years, through her own company, Melinda Myers, LLC, Myers has dedicated herself to educating gardeners and professionals through various communications vehicles, including her nationally syndicated “Melinda’s Garden Moment” television and radio segments, books, Birds & Blooms, Gardening How-To and Wisconsin Gardening magazine columns, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper column, speaking engagements, and her website.

A one-person whirling dervish, Melinda Myers is the face and voice of horticulture in Wisconsin,” WGIF Hall of Fame committee member said. “There are two necessary components to the Green industry—neither can exist without the other. They are the customers and the workers— those who do the work, the growers, garden centers, landscapers, etc. Melinda Myers’ lifetime work has introduced, inspired, and taught both the customers and the workers, nurturing and advancing the industry, possibly more than any other person in Wisconsin.