Proven Winners ColorChoice presented its 2009 Innovation Award to Overdevest Nurseries in Bridgeton, N.J. The annual award recognizes forward thinking and excellence in the marketing of Proven Winners ColorChoice branded shrubs. Spring Meadow Nursery, Inc., developer of Proven Winners ColorChoice branded shrubs, recognizes just one licensed partner each year with an Innovation Award.
As part of the award, Overdevest won the Innovation Award Trophy, a replica of Rodin’s famous “The Thinker” sculpture. Some have dubbed the trophy as the “Stanley Cup of Branded Shrubs” due to the physical rotation of the trophy to the most recent winner and because of the engraved names of previous winners, similar to the famous trophy of the National Hockey League.
Tim Wood, product and marketing manager for Proven Winners ColorChoice, and Gary Nienhuis, licensing and brand manager, presented the Innovation Award Trophy to company president Ed Overdevest at the recent Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS). Overdevest will also receive a free 4-color advertisement placement in a regional publication, as well as receiving top listing among Proven Winners ColorChoice’s Gold Key growers during 2010.
Overdevest Nurseries is a wholesale grower that offers 55 Proven Winners ColorChoice shrub varieties. Founded in 1952, the company is a supplier to independent garden centers and distributors in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia. Overdevest grows more than 1,700 varieties of shrubs, trees, vines and perennials on approximately 210 acres.
Previous winners of the ColorChoice Innovation Award include Prides Corner Farms (2008), Fisher Farms (2007) and Van Essen Nursery (2006).