Shelley Ryan, Eugene Smalley inducted to WGIF Hall of Fame

In recognition of their outstanding contributions to the field of horticulture in Wisconsin and beyond, Shelley Ryan and Professor Eugene Smalley have been selected as the 2016 recipients of the Wisconsin Green Industry Federation (WGIF) Hall of Fame award.

Shelley Ryan was best known as the host of “The Wisconsin Gardener” television show on Wisconsin Public Television. For 21 years, as host and producer of the show, she persuaded thousands of Wisconsin television viewers to get out into their gardens and get their hands dirty. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ms. Ryan worked at Wisconsin Public Radio for several years before discovering her passion for plants.  

She became a master gardener through the UW-Extension and worked at a number of nurseries in the area before coming up with the idea for the television show. It was the perfect combination for Shelley, who connected with people through their shared love of gardening, plants, and the great outdoors. Ryan introduced viewers to sustainable growing techniques, the gardens of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin, edible gardens, and how to create a garden for butterflies through her show’s many field trips. In addition, her TV program led to the creation of Wisconsin Public Television's Garden Expo, which draws 20,000 gardening enthusiasts to Madison every February. Through Shelley’s efforts, scores of gardeners discovered the value and enjoyment of growing plants. Many of her colleagues have remarked that although Ms. Ryan loved plants, she loved the people of the plant world even more. Ms. Ryan died in January 2014 at the age of 57 after battling cancer.  

Professor Eugene Smalley is known world-wide as an elm expert for his efforts to develop an elm tree resistant to Dutch elm disease, a disease that had killed more than 50 million elm trees in the U.S. and abroad. Professor Smalley was hired as a plant pathologist and mycologist to start a program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to resolve Dutch elm disease, which had decimated forests in Wisconsin, the eastern U.S., and in Europe by the early 1950s. His research revealed that the best response was disease resistant trees, not pesticides. After 20 years of study, he and his colleagues created several successful Dutch elm disease resistant hybrids, including Sapporo Autumn Gold, Regal, America Liberty, New Horizon, and Cathedral. You can see Professor Smalley’s trees across the U.S. and Europe, from the Boerner Botanical Gardens in Milwaukee and along the autobahns and Rhine River in Germany, to the grounds of Windsor Castle, where Prince Philip planted a Sapporo Autumn Gold in 1980 as Professor Smalley stood nearby.  

In addition to his work on Dutch elm disease, Professor Smalley did extensive research on the toxins produced by fungi, establishing the conditions under which fungi produce mycotoxins in corn, hay, silage, and other crops, and how these toxins affect animals and humans. He helped found the UW-Madison Environmental Toxicology Center. 

Professor Smalley was extremely supportive of his colleagues but he was especially considerate of his students, advising and encouraging them, and taking pride in their accomplishments. Professor Smalley died at the age of 75 in March 2002. According to the book Every Root an Anchor:  Wisconsin’s Famous and Historic Trees by R. Bruce Allison, his colleague and friend, Professor Ray Guries described Professor Smalley as someone “incredibly loyal to the university and the state of Wisconsin. Once Gene came and started the program, he stayed,” he said. “He came and he stayed because the trees were rooted here. And, in a funny kind of way, he became rooted here, too.”    

Congratulations to the families and friends of the recipients of WGIF’s Hall of Fame Award for 2016. The rich legacy of both recipients has benefitted the Green industry in Wisconsin and the world and will continue to do so into the forseeable future. WGIF salutes the efforts and passion of these two incredible Wisconsinites.

Presentation ceremonies for each of the recipients will take place in the coming weeks. Dr. Eugene Smalley will be inducted at a ceremony at the Summer Field Day and Trade Show of the Wisconsin Nursery and Landscape Association (WNLA) on Wednesday, August 10, 2016, at noon at the Boerner Botanical Gardens, Hales Corners, Wisconsin.  Ms. Shelley Ryan will be inducted at the Commercial Flower Growers of Wisconsin (CFGW) Summer Field Day on Thursday, August 4, 2016 at the West Madison Ag Research Station at 9:30 am, and again on Wednesday, August 10, 2016 at noon at the WNLA Summer Field Day and Trade Show at the Boerner Botanical Gardens.  The presentation for Shelley Ryan will be made once again at the Annual Conference of CFGW, taking place October 19, 2016 in Denmark, Wisconsin at Floral Plant Growers.

Photos courtesy WGIF.