NNLA Awards

DISTINGUISHED NURSERY PROFESSIONAL AWARD

NNLA defines recipients of the Distinguished Landscape Professional Award as members who should be active role models for the industry and their communities, active in the nursery and landscape industry for 10 or more years and a member of NNLA.

BRIAN MUNK

Brian has contributed much to the landscape industry in southeast Nebraska over the past 15 years. He worked as a landscape designer at Campbell’s Nursery in Lincoln. He is currently the Maintenance Director for the Downtown Lincoln Association. He is a long-standing member of NNLA, having served on the Board of Directors, most recently as Board President. He is also NCNLP certified.

RANDY WOLF

NNLA honored Randy Wolf posthumously for his work in the industry. His wife, Shelly and their three sons accepted the award on his behalf

During high school, Randy worked at Marshalls Nursery of rural Arlington where he became proficient at digging ball and burlapped nursery stock. After high school graduation Randy worked for the Clark Jensen Nursery in Blair. Clark took a liking to Randy and could see his potential in horticulture and his strong work ethic. Clark, himself took Randy to Lincoln and assisted Randy getting enrolled at UNL.

After his freshman year he went back to Arlington for the summer and went to work for Grant Klassy at the Earl May Garden Center in Fremont. As he started his sophomore year at UNL he began working at Earl May in Lincoln under Jim Kinghorn. While working at the Lincoln Earl May, Randy volunteered with the Back Yard Farmer phone panel on their Tuesday evening television program helping callers with a myriad of horticultural problems. Randy worked through the ranks at Earl Mays to be assistant manager and in 1981 he became manager of the Earl May store in Harlan, Iowa. Then he managed their North Platte store and finally came back to the Lincoln store.

During his years managing garden centers, Randy started collecting seeds and selling them to wholesale nurseries mostly on the west coast. His bread-and-butter seeds were Quercus bicolor and Gymnocladus dioica. Randy read an article that talked about the trees that were planted at the 911 memorial and the way he traced them back, he figured that a good deal of the trees planted at the memorial were grown from some of his seed collecting. While Randy was curator at the Folsom Children’s Zoo (now the Lincoln Children’s Zoo) his most notable accomplishment was designing and planting the original Butterfly Pavilion. Researching the best flora for the butterflies, he visited other butterfly houses and assimilated ideas to design an area of plants best suited for the butterflies. This pavilion quickly became a favorite spot for all ages of zoo visitors.

DISTINGUISHED NURSERY PROFESSIONAL AWARD

NNLA defines that recipients of the Distinguished Landscape Professional Award should be active role models for the industry and their communities, active in the nursery and landscape industry for 10 or more years and a member of NNLA.

KRISTIN HAIN

Kristin has been in the landscape business for over 25 years as the owner and president of Land Escapes in Lincon. She was nominated by her employees. They state she is an exceptional boss and role model. She has grown her company literally from the ground up, starting with a shovel and her Jeep Grand Wagoneer to running two experienced crews with a fleet of four trucks and trailers. She is the powerhouse of the company, leading by example and inspiring her employees to work hard every day and provide excellent customer service. They state they love working for someone who has so much knowledge and experience to share and they feel she truly embodies the criteria for this award as a community leader and talented business woman.

DISTINGUISHED NEBRASKA CERTIFIED NURSERY AND LANDSCAPE PROFESSIONAL AWARD

The Distinguished Nebraska Certified Nursery and Landscape Professional Award is presented to a current NCNLP who exhibits the ideals and standards associated with the NCNLP professional status and is active in advancing the NCNLP program.

CHRISTINE KARLOFF

This year’s award goes to Christine Karloff who advances the NCNLP program through knowledge, passion and education of the industry.

Joel Kayser nominated Christine and states he has been purchasing plant material for well over 10 years from Kristine and has always found her to exemplify what it means to be a passionate individual in our industry. She has always sought to improve her knowledge of plant material in our industry and help her customers better understand “right plant, right place”. Coming from the installation side of operations in our industry, I wish there was more people that possessed the personality and knowledge of our recipient. Between her 20 years of experience, her masters degree in horticulture, and her status as an NCNLP, Christine Karloff is well worthy of this award.

GOLD LEAF NURSERY AWARD

This award is given to a group or individual who has actively shown outstanding support to NNLA and the nursery and landscape industry in Nebraska. NNLA is proud to recognize Greenleaf Nursery Company for their longstanding support of our Association.

NEW NCNLP’S RECEIVE PLAQUES

Tim Dungan and Sienna Kunze received their NCNLP plaques for completing the certification exam in 2023.