Syngenta Flowers Senior Breeder Todd Perkins received the 2023 Medal of Excellence Industry Achievement Award. The Industry Achievement Award recognizes the lifetime accomplishments of individuals and organizations that have devoted their life’s work to the mission of advancing plant varieties and the floriculture industry.
Todd has been with Syngenta Flowers for over 35 years, but gardening has been a part of his life for as long as he can remember. His love for plant breeding developed at university, and one of his first breeding breakthroughs was with Violas.
When Todd started at Goldsmith Seeds in 1988, no viola hybrids were on the market. Once Todd and a few other breeders started making crosses, they saw how hybrids could change the market. Hybrid violas had the performance and vigor to establish themselves in a wide range of environments, were fast to flower, and made the perfect bedding plant. This led to the development of the popular Penny™ series. Soon other breeding companies came to the same realization, and hybrid breeding became the gold standard for violas.
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