America in Bloom Advisors will visit Coshocton

Professional Advisors from the America in Bloom (AIB) program will visit Coshocton, on Thursday and Friday, July 13-14. Coshocton is one of the many proud and passionate communities across America working on local revitalization programs. Communities that are more welcoming and vibrant have a competitive advantage in stimulating economic development and creating a thriving place for people to work and live. America in Bloom communities experience better cooperation among municipal, commercial, and residential sectors because everyone works toward a common goal.

In addition to receiving a detailed written evaluation from the advisors citing strengths and opportunities for improvement, participants receive a special mention for what the judges deem to be an extraordinary project or program. Additional awards that can be earned includes: Population category winner; Outstanding achievement award – the “best of the best” over all participants in each of the evaluated criteria; Special awards; Community Champion; and YouTube Video.

Advisors will be evaluating the community’s efforts in the areas of community vitality, floral impact, landscaped areas, urban forestry, environmental initiatives, celebrating heritage, and overall impression.

The advisor team members are Kirk R. Brown and Cheryl Corson, RLA, CPSI, NBC-HWC. Brown has gardened since his Great-Grandmother Annie Jones, made him pick up a trowel and a tomato seedling while babysitting his 4-year-old self. From those humble beginnings, in 2021, he was named to the Hall of Fame for International Garden Communicators. Previously recognized by Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association as a Green Achiever, Brown won Outstanding Landscape Design Awards from Perennial Plant Association, Association of Professional Landscape Designers, and PA Landscape and Nursery Association. For 20 years, he represented Joanne Kostecky Garden Design as a leader in the design/build industry. He worked as National Outreach Coordinator for Magnolia Plantation, America’s Oldest Garden, in Charleston SC. He is a past president of www.GardenComm.com after serving 20 years on its board of directors. He is a founding member of www.greatgardenspeakers.org. In the US and Canada, he has delivered hundreds of keynote addresses, guest lectures, teaching symposia, and certified instruction over the past quarter century. He has traveled the country and spoken internationally interpreting historic horticulturists and international dignitaries: John Bartram, Carl Linnaeus, Mark Catesby, Peter Kalm, Benjamin Franklin, and Frederick Law Olmsted. With it all, he and his wife, Sara, still find time to cultivate their own private display garden. Together they have become dedicated GRDNTRVLRS!

Corson is a landscape architect, writer, and health & wellness coach in private practice. As a certified playground safety inspector (CPSI), she has designed and inspected playgrounds, and served as an expert witness on playground safety matters. Her award-winning Sustainable Landscape Maintenance Manual for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed is freely available at https://corsonlearning.com. Corson holds a BA in Public Administration from the University of Maine, an MLA from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Health and Wellness Coaching from the Maryland University of Integrative Health. She enjoys supporting the vital connection between human and environmental wellness.