Resident wins Connecticut Horticultural Society award

Karen Ellsworth of West Hartford has won the Connecticut Horticultural Society's 2012 Service Award.
"Consistently, quietly and with a smile on her face, Karen regularly gives back to the Connecticut Horticultural Society," CHS Awards Chairman Elaine Widmer said as she presented Ellsworth with a plaque and trowel at the society's June 21 meeting in West Hartford. The award recognizes members who have made outstanding contributions to the mostly volunteer society, which has more than 900 members statewide.
As chairman for 10 years of the CHS hospitality committee, Ellsworth ensures that members and guests have coffee, tea and cookies at each CHS meeting. She also has a key role in making sure the annual holiday potluck dinner goes off without a hitch.
Ellsworth can be found at CHS plant auctions, providing food and drinks to volunteers. Over the years, she has helped plant the society's display gardens or served as a greeter at the Connecticut Flower and Garden Show in Hartford.
She joined CHS some 20 years ago as a diversion from her full-time job as an elementary school teacher in Farmington. She enjoyed the society's meetings, the pleasant distraction of learning about plants and the garden-related day and overseas trips.
"It's the camaraderie and friendships that I've made at CHS that keep me coming back," Ellsworth said. . "I've found the people to be so welcoming."
Her commitments don't stop with CHS. She volunteers at her church, where she maintains the memorial garden and has become an expert apple pie baker. Four days a week she is a patient-relations volunteer at John Dempsey Hospital at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington. She also volunteers at Ten Thousand Villages, a shop in West Hartford.