Courtesy of Farm Credit of Central Florida
Key Points
- Patrick Prussing received the Gene A. Batson Award on Aug. 27, the highest honor from the Action Chapter of FNGLA, for outstanding service and leadership.
- Prussing founded the Valencia Horticulture Society and helped save Valencia College’s horticulture program through a large campus plant sale.
- He taught plant education to children at Zellwood Elementary and shared horticulture skills as a Cubmaster and Scoutmaster in Zellwood Pack and Troop 639.
Long before Patrick Prussing built a career helping Florida growers, his interest in horticulture took root beside his grandfather’s orchid collection.
That early connection eventually led Prussing into nearly four decades of work in Florida’s green industry — and on Aug. 27, to the highest honor presented by the Action Chapter of the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association (FNGLA).
Prussing received the Gene A. Batson Award during the chapter’s 31st award luncheon at Highland Manor in Apopka. Farm Credit of Central Florida sponsored the event.
“Looking around this room, I see the very people who have shaped my life and career for the last four decades,” Prussing told those gathered. “Without you, I would not be here.”
The award was established in 1995 by the Action Chapter’s board of directors to recognize members who have demonstrated outstanding service and leadership within the chapter. Batson, a nursery operator who helped establish several successful businesses, was its first recipient.
For Prussing, receiving an award bearing Batson’s name held particular meaning. Prussing worked under Batson early in his career after meeting him through a referral from another nursery operator.
“He taught me more than just plants,” Prussing said. “He showed me the value of work ethic, opportunity and leadership in this industry.”
Born in Atlanta and raised during his early childhood in nearby Mableton, Georgia, Prussing moved to Orlando in 1986. His interest in plants began during visits to his grandparents in Coral Gables, where he helped his grandfather tend orchids and volunteered at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.
In 1990, while attending Evans High School, Prussing received a $1,000 scholarship — an experience he said confirmed that he had found the professional community to which he wanted to belong.
While studying horticulture at Valencia College, Prussing founded and became the first president of the Valencia Horticulture Society. When the college’s horticulture program faced possible closure, Prussing and the society organized a large campus plant sale. Its success helped persuade the college to preserve the program.
His commitment to education later reached Zellwood Elementary School, where he began visiting his oldest son’s kindergarten class to teach children how plants help people. He brought donated soil, pots and plants so students could take home what they planted. The effort expanded to other classrooms and continued annually for about a decade.
Prussing also shared his plant knowledge as a Cubmaster and Scoutmaster with Zellwood Pack and Troop 639, teaching young people to identify harmful and beneficial plants during hikes and camping trips.
Professionally, Prussing served as head propagator at RFJ Co. and White Rose Nurseries, spent 12 years helping develop Sunshine Horticulture as a liner producer and later worked as sourcing manager at LiveTrends. He now serves as Central Florida sales representative for Southern Ag Insecticides, assisting commercial growers with chemical needs, pest management and bio-rational products.
Keynote speaker Katy Moss Warner, a retired Walt Disney World horticulture executive, praised Prussing and other industry members for using their expertise to support schools, public gardens and nonprofit organizations.
Prussing credited his wife, Shelly, whom he married inside a nursery office while working for Batson, as “the catalyst for every good thing” in his life.
“This industry has given me a purpose, a passion and a second family,” he said.