David Clark receives statewide award from NYS landscape group

David Clark, known to many Western New York gardeners for his horticulture classes and presentations, was recently honored as the Certified Nursery & Landscape Professional (CNLP) of the Year.

The statewide award was conferred by the New York State Nursery & Landscape Association (NYSNLA).

Clark is also a member of PLANT WNY, the Western New York trade association for the professional landscape and nursery trades.

As a horticulture professional, Clark wears many hats: educator, floral designer, writer and speaker.

Currently he teaches the popular horticulture series at the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens. He has also presented at Plantasia, for groups such as the Massachusetts Avenue Project, Grassroots Gardens WNY and Urban Roots Cooperative Garden Market, and many garden clubs.

As a horticulture instructor at Niagara County Community College, he taught greenhouse management, floral design and other topics.

Clark has contributed to many articles here on Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com. Recently he was interviewed for an article on gladiolus in the August issue of Birds and Blooms magazine and has been featured in television segments and online videos.

He is the warehouse operations manager at Niagara Quality Flowers Inc.

Growing up on a farm in Eden, Clark helped his family raise and board horses, black angus cattle and chickens. His mother introduced him to the love of horticulture. As a young boy, he preferred to read Taylor’s Encyclopedia of Gardening instead of comic books. He now lives in Hamburg.

Clark graduated Phi Theta Kappa from SUNY Cobleskill in Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture, with a minor in Floriculture Production.

The CNLP of the Year award recognizes an individual’s extraordinary commitment to the green industry, their family and community, and the betterment of others through the Certified Nursery & Landscape Professional Program.

The award was presented at the NYSNLA Court of Honor on Aug. 23 at the New York State Fair in Syracuse.

The award was presented by Steven S. Sypniewski, Lifetime CNLP, president of PLANT WNY and a member of the NYSNLA Board of Directors.