It also should be tolerant of a wide variety of microclimates within an individual landscape. If it adapts to both sun and shade, wet and dry sites, it goes higher on the list. Any combination of characters that make the plant more appealing over more than one season gives the plant an added advantage in the competition. For instance, attractive summer flowers over a long period followed by attractive fall color, exfoliating bark and showy winter berries enhance consumer appeal and marketability of a plant. Membership on the Georgia Plant Selections Committee is open to anyone in the Professional Environmental Horticulture Industry.
All members volunteer their time and no one receives a salary.
The Georgia Cooperative Extension Service prepares promotional literature on the Georgia Gold Medal Winners, including color fact-sheets on each winner, and distributes it to growers, retailers, landscapers, county Extension agents and consumers. A fall mail-out is done each year to wholesale growers and a Buyer's Guide is assembled. This is followed in February with a media packet to newspapers and trade journals announcing the new Georgia Gold Medal Winners for that year. Then a mail-out to all retailers is done in March of each year encouraging them to buy and promote Gold Medal Winners for that year. Funding for the marketing efforts of the Georgia Plant Selections Committee comes solely from annual industry sponsorship.