Category: Cooperative Extension
Horticultural Honors
January 28, 2025 Written by Michele Walfred, Communications Specialist, Photos by Jeremy Waymen
In Delaware’s horticulture and landscape arena, two names from the University of Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural Resources command respect and recognition —Sue Barton, professor and extension specialist in ornamental horticulture and Valann Budischak, former acting director of UD Botanic Gardens (UDBG) and current executive director of the Delaware Nursery & Landscape Association (DNLA),a non-profit trade organization that supports horticulture-related business and suppliers. According to DNLA, the green industry generates an annual $1.2 billion in sales and services and added value In Delaware.
At the association’s 35th Delaware Horticulture Industry Expo and Pesticide Conference, a two-day education event held every January in Dover, Barton and Budischak were surprised with induction into DNLA’s Hall of Fame. In its 52-year history, only 20 individuals have made it to the exclusive list. The award is not an annual tradition. The rare, dual honors recognized careers dedicated to higher education, student mentorship and experiential learning. Through workshops and short courses, Barton and Budischak help its partners fulfill a mission to beautify the First State through sustainable landscape practices.
On behalf of DNLA, Budischak inducted Barton, whose impact on the local landscapes, with each turn of the season, continues to renew, beautify and fortify the First State’s environment along roadways and in commercial and residential areas.
Barton was lauded for her commitment to plant science education, teaching a full slate of coursework, including her involvement with UD’s landscape architecture program. Since launching the Delaware Master Gardener program 38 years ago, Barton has taught hundreds of volunteers. Among a litany of accomplishments, she developed Plants for a Livable Delaware Program that provides native plant alternatives to invasive plants.
As Budischak returned to the back of the room to check on the upcoming lunch service, she was surprised to see her colleagues Terry Lemper, DNLA president, and Tracy Wootten, Sussex County extension horticulture agent, approach the lectern and announce a second Hall of Fame inductee. Then she heard her name.
“I’ve got to admit, I was completely surprised,” Budischak said.
She later found out there was a bit of subterfuge in keeping an internal award a secret. Budischak’s multiple roles with DNLA, UDBG, and Extension, including mentoring UD student interns in the gardens for many summers, were among her noted accomplishments.
“It’s been my honor to work alongside the DNLA leadership team and the UD Cooperative Extension Ornamentals team to educate, promote, and represent Delaware’s green industry over the past 28 years,” Budischak said. “When I reflect on the people I’ve gotten to know and work with, I realize how incredibly blessed I’ve been.”
Barton also expressed similar sentiments.
“I am honored to be inducted into the DNLA Hall of Fame. Working with a great group of nursery and landscape professionals over the years has been a pleasure,” she reflected. “It is especially fitting to be inducted in the same year as Valann Budischak. We have been partners on many projects for many years. I couldn’t ask for a better colleague!”
A horticulture homecoming
The expo provided one guest speaker, Daniel Potter, professor emeritus of the University of Kentucky Department of Entomology, to reunite with two of his former students who left their Kentucky nest, and land UD Extension careers. He remembered his former students and details of their academic accomplishments fondly.
“It was great reconnecting with Brian Kunkel and John Emerson during my recent trip to speak at the Delaware Horticulture Industry Expo,” Potter said. “It’s gratifying to remember Brian and John as students and to see how both have become teachers and leaders serving Delaware’s green industry.”
Brian Kunkel, UD extension specialist in ornamental entomology, affectionately looked back at his academic journey in the Bluegrass state. Kunkel took two undergraduate courses with Potter in the late 1990s, and Potter served as Kunkel’s master's degree advisor. During a 2023 visit to Kentucky, Kunkel reconnected with his mentor. He recalled Potter’s interest in speaking around the country and offered Potter’s name as a presenter for the upcoming event. Potter opened the expo with two talks, Taming the Top 10 Pests of Woody Landscape Plants and Bees, Pesticides and Politics: Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Urban Landscape.
“I really enjoyed his presentations and was happy everyone else seemed to enjoy them,” Kunkel remarked. “It was a great time to hang out with him again and visit with an old friend, mentor, and colleague this week.”
John Emerson, UD Extension turfgrass and nutrient management agent, took classes from Potter in 2003 and 2004 and saw him occasionally in Kentucky at various professional settings after graduation.
“[Potter] has won several teaching awards, and it is easy to see why. He made learning fun and exciting for me, and I look back at my time with him fondly,” Emerson said. “He is a great scientist, teacher, mentor, and an even better human.”
The Delaware Horticulture and Industry Expo epitomizes what collaboration and partnerships can achieve. Extension staff play a significant role in sharing timely information, best practices techniques and emerging disease and pest threats. This outreach impacts wholesale and retail operations such as greenhouses, nurseries and garden centers, as well as the landscape businesses. In addition to the winter summit, DNLA and Delaware Cooperative Extension collaborate on many events, including co-hosting a day-long summer expo that rotates each year by county.
