Monrovia Honors Horticulture Legends at 100th Anniversary Celebration

Monrovia’s week-long Centennial Celebration showcased the company’s legacy of craftsmanship and dedication to quality-grown premium plants. The event also honored the people who bring those plants to life in the American landscape.

Monrovia welcomed thousands of customers and industry partners to the Dayton, OR, nursery for the celebration, which included new plants, learning opportunities from experts, and the largest Breeder’s Showcase perennial trial in the West.

“We wouldn’t be where we are today without our customers and industry partners,” says Jonathan Pedersen, President and CEO of Monrovia. “Working together, we are honoring what Harry Rosedale Sr. began 100 years ago. We’re also focused on the future, and we are ready for the next 100 years.”

The 100th anniversary also offered a chance to recognize individuals who have shaped the industry, as Monrovia honored four true Landscape Legends during a private luncheon.

Each living Landscape Legend was chosen for their historic contributions to the industry and their impact on the future of horticulture. To mark the occasion, Monrovia is making a donation in their names to SeedYourFuture.Org, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring young people to pursue careers in horticulture.

“This incredible gift will make a big impact on the future of our industry,” says Jazmin Albarran, Executive Director of Seed Your Future. “It will be used to fund our career exploration resources, connecting students and educators to horticulture, and is a fitting way to honor these legends.”

Monrovia’s Landscape Legends

The honorees included:

Anna Ball

Anna Ball has spent her career proving that horticulture is not just an industry of plants — it’s an industry of people, and of vision. As Chairman and CEO of Ball Horticultural Company, she has led the horticultural organization through decades of growth, guiding its breeding, research, and production programs to reach growers and gardeners in more than 20 countries. Anna has been a tireless champion for horticulture education and for the next generation entering our field.

Dr. Michael Dirr

For generations of horticulturists, nurserymen, and landscape professionals, Dr. Michael Dirr’s Manual of Woody Landscape Plants has been the trusted source of information. As a professor at the University of Georgia, Dirr has spent his career teaching, researching, and breeding new woody ornamentals, and in doing so has trained and influenced thousands of the people who grow, sell, and specify plants across North America today.

Dan Hinkley

Dan Hinkley is one of the great plant explorers of our time. Over four decades, he has traveled the globe — from the mountains of China to the forests of Nepal and beyond — collecting, trialing, and introducing new plants to North American gardens. As the founder of Heronswood Nursery and the creator of Windcliff, Dan has expanded what we think a garden can be.

Martha Stewart

Few people have done more to put gardening at the center of American life than Martha Stewart. Through her magazines, television programs, books, and passion, she brought horticulture out of the backyard and into the national conversation — teaching millions of home gardeners to see plants as the foundation of good living. Her own gardens have long served as a proving ground and a showcase for the trees, shrubs, and perennials that home gardeners aspire to grow, and her influence has shaped how an entire generation thinks about beautiful, well-tended landscapes.