Tulip Time Festival to Feature Presentation by Award-Winning Gardening Expert

Holland, Mich. - Tulip Time Festival (www.tuliptime.com) has announced that award-winning gardening expert, Katy Moss Warner, will be presenting the program Beautiful Landscapes at Tulip Time 2017.

Katy Moss Warner is currently President of America in Bloom (AIB), a national not-for-profit organization that promotes nationwide beautification through community involvement. She has judged cities, including Holland, Michigan, for AIB in America and internationally since 2007.

Katy is also President Emeritus of the American Horticultural Society (AHS), a national, not-for-profit, member-based organization with a bold vision of "making America a nation of gardeners, a land of gardens."

Previously, Katy was Director of Disney's Horticulture and Environmental Initiatives at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. With a team of nearly 700, she was responsible for the landscapes of four theme parks, 15 resort properties and over 70 miles of roads on the 30,000-acre property. For 24 years, she provided the leadership necessary to ensure that Disney's horticultural traditions of beautiful gardens and environmental responsibility were sustained in Florida. She started the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival in 1994 with her Disney Horticulture team and partnerships with colleagues in Florida and around the country.

Katy received the Agriculture Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Arizona, where she received a degree in landscape architecture in 1974. She was awarded the Longwood Fellowship in Public Garden Administration in 1974. In 2000, she was awarded a Loeb Fellowship in urban and community development at the Harvard School of Design. She has received numerous awards including the George Robert White Medal of Honor from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society; an Award of Excellence from the National Garden Clubs and the Margaret Douglas Medal for conservation education from the Garden Club of America. She went to Rome in 2008 to receive the Torsanlorenzo International Prize for the Environment. Katy is an Honorary Life Member in the Florida Nurseryman and Growers Association (FNGLA). In 2012 she was inducted into the FNGLA Hall of Fame. In 2014, she received the Industry Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Society for Horticultural Science.

Katy has traveled extensively hosting garden travel study programs for the American Horticultural Society in Italy, France, England, Belgium, Czech Republic, Argentina, Morocco, Spain, New Zealand as well as many destinations within the USA. She has been featured in numerous books, newspaper and magazine articles and has co-authored the book "The Gardens of Walt Disney World Resort."

She is often asked to deliver presentations on various topics including the importance of quality landscapes to the vitality of communities; garden tourism; and the power of flowers. Katy is this year's featured gardening speaker at Tulip Time delivering her program Beautiful Landscapes where she will share inspiring ideas for home gardens as well as community beautification collected throughout her travels.

A full lunch is included in the ticket price of this program, which will be held at Haworth Inn on the Hope College Campus, on Tuesday, May 9 from 11a - 1p. Tickets for this show, and all other festival events, can be purchased online at www.tuliptime.com, via phone at 616.396.4221 or visit the Tulip Time box office at 74 W. 8th Street.

The Tulip Time Festival Guide is now available offering complete details for the 2017 program. Festival Guides can be viewed online or you can request a copy at www.tuliptime.com/join. Connect with Tulip Time - download our free app today!

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