Perennial Plant Association Honors Special Recognition Award Recipients
Special Recognition Awards at the 2025 National Symposium. | Perennial Plant Association (PPA)
During the Perennial Plant Association’s (PPA) 2025 National Symposium in Des Moines, IA, three perennials industry individuals were honored for their exceptional contributions with Special Recognition Awards. This year’s awards and recipients are:
Emerging Perennial Professional Award
Ben O’Brien, the winner of the Emerging Perennial Professional Award. | Perennial Plant Association
The winner of the Emerging Perennial Professional Award is Ben O’Brien, owner of Wild by Design.
This award recognizes an individual who is a talented and diligent newcomer to the perennial plant industry.
Ben creates naturalistic gardens inspired by the landscape of Prince Edward County in Ontario, where he lives and works. He is a passionate young plantsman and progressive planting designer, bringing the best of the new perennial movement to Canada. He has conducted thorough experiments and trials using a variety of growing media, including gravel, sand, and construction waste, to assess perennial behavior and longevity for both public and private projects. He speaks and writes widely about his work and has always been at the forefront of design and ecology.
Wild by Design, founded in 2014, is guided by Ben’s passion for plants and naturalistic planting design, but also by the desire to create gardens and landscapes that provide people with the same simple delights and pleasures as the wild rural landscapes of his youth.
Perennial Outreach and Education Award
Rebecca McMackin, winner of the Perennial Outreach and Education Award. | Perennial Plant Association
The winner of the Perennial Outreach and Education Award is speaker and lecturer Rebecca McMackin, Arboretum Curator of Woodlawn Cemetery, and former Director of Horticulture of Brooklyn Bridge Park.
This award recognizes an individual or organization that has distinguished itself by advancing perennial plants and the industry through education, advocacy, awareness, outreach, or promotion.
Rebecca is a dynamic public speaker, writer, lecturer, and advocate on the importance of ecological gardening, advocating for North American native plants and perennials. Her “Let your garden grow wild” TED Talk has been viewed more than 1 million times.
Rebecca is the Lead Horticulturist for the American Horticultural Society and a Program Associate for the Harvard Divinity School’s Thinking with Plants & Fungi Initiative. Rebecca spent a decade as Director of Horticulture of Brooklyn Bridge Park, where she managed 85 acres of diverse parkland organically and with an eye towards habitat creation for birds, butterflies, and soil microorganisms. Her research into cultivating urban biodiversity and ethical management strategies has influenced thousands of people and entire urban parks systems to adopt similar approaches.
Perennial Excellence Award
Jack DeVroomen, winner of the Perennial Excellence Award. | Perennial Plant Association
The winner of the Perennial Excellence Award is Jack DeVroomen of DeVroomen Holland Garden Products.
This award recognizes an individual or organization that has distinguished itself through contributions, skills, and efforts related to herbaceous perennial plants and the perennial plant industry.
A member of PPA since its inception more than 40 years ago, Jack has been a friend, colleague, and trusted resource for perennials industry members worldwide. He has spent the past 50 years traveling to the U.S. and Canada, representing the company that his grandfather founded 100 years ago, and introducing colleagues and plant enthusiasts to a plethora of European plant introductions. Jack has made significant contributions to the perennial plant industry, both in North America and in Europe.
The Perennial Plant Association extends congratulations to the 2025 award recipients. To learn more about the recipients and the awards program, please visit perennialplant.org/page/2025SpecialRecognitionWinners.
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