New Harmony Tree Nursery earns ‘Greening the Unity’ honor

Tom Guggenheim by one of his trees for sale at the nursery.

By Lois Mittino Gray

Local ISA Certified Arborist Tom Guggenheim was surprised to learn his Native Trees and Shrubs Nursery in New Harmony was honored to be named the Shirley James “Greening the Unity” Award winner for 2026. The award is a prestigious honor presented during the Leadership Everyone “Celebration of Leadership” and it is given to recognize impactful environmental efforts. The ceremony was held on Wednesday, March 18 at the Old National Events Center with over 500 people in attendance.

“I was nominated, among many people, for one of the lesser awards and I was sitting there listening to all the wonderful things everybody has done. I didn’t receive any of those awards I knew about and was just content to meet people. Much to my surprise my name was announced last as the major winner. I was so surprised,” he recounted. He was nominated for the tabletop award by Shawn Dickerson, Evansville City Arborist. He and Dickerson are colleagues and Tom just finished planting 500 trees grown in his nursery in parks for the city.

“I was thrilled, but this is not just my award. There are so many volunteer groups in this area who do so much for improving the environment and landscape health,” he commented. He cited many of them including the Soil and Water Conservation Districts of Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick and Gibson Counties; Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists; local Garden Clubs; Paul Dausman, the Deputy Director of Evansville Parks, Wesselman Woods Nature Center staff, and the many avid environmentalists who work with the Posey County Invasive Partnership (PIPP).

Guggenheim also pays tribute to the award’s namesake, community activist Shirley James. She moved to the area in 1963 and worked tirelessly to make it a better place than she found it. She instituted the West Side Improvement Organization and was instrumental in creating the Howell Wetlands Preserve and the Pigeon Creek Greenway. She helped to restore the Pagoda on the river, fight urban sprawl, and spearheaded cleanup efforts. A memorial tribute to her is a lovely bench in the shaded woods of Burdette Park.

Tom’s nursery, founded in 2021, is on four acres located on 1129 E. Church Street in New Harmony. He has over 150 kinds of Indiana trees and shrubs. Guggenhein has patented his own system for growing the healthy native trees. He recycles leftover plastic sheets from SABIC in Mount Vernon and wraps them around his tree roots. The process is substantial to development and gives a definite planting level to ensure it is planted at the proper depth. He buys seedlings from around the country and uses his patented system to grow them fully.

“I have 5,000 seedlings coming in next week,” he said. All are natives. Familiar names, such as dogwood, oaks, maples, hackberries, bald cypress, pawpaw, and hickory abound. These species mainly should be planted from November to April. “There is nothing else like this in southern Indiana,” he noted. The only other area nursery, Ancient Roots, located on highway 66 specializes more in grasses, herbaceous flowers, and forbs.

Tom Guggenheim is an ardent admirer of Dr. Douglas W. Tallamy, a distinguished professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. With a keen interest in the ecological implications of non-native plants on biodiversity, Dr. Tallamy has emerged as a leading voice in the fields of conservation and sustainable gardening. Driven by a vision for a greener future, Dr. Tallamy founded the “Homegrown National Park” initiative. It champions the propagation of native plants to rejuvenate ecological networks. Under his guidance, the ambitious project targets the transformation of 20 million acres of conventional lawns into thriving, biodiverse habitats.

“We need to plant natives and get away from these invasives,” he urged. “Native plants provide the seeds and food that local fauna have co-evolved with over long periods of time. Now we are overcome with all these invasive species and birds and deer won’t eat them and they are crowding out their native foods.”

He is an avid advocate for countering the effects of climate change on Earth. “My main goal now that I have retired from SABIC as a chemist is to teach what is happening on this planet and climate change. I want to be a mentor to other people. Wherever I go, I plant trees and talk climate change.”

“I am convinced the reason there is no consensus on climate change is that educators do not really understand it well to teach others. It is simple math and a heat transfer problem that can be calculated. Arrhenius did it so long ago. Where is the easy-to-understand paper written on this?” he queried.

In 1896, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius published the first climate model demonstrating that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels would raise global temperatures. Using manual calculations over many months, he predicted that doubling atmospheric emissions would increase global temperatures by roughly 5°C to 6°C, a foundational insight into the greenhouse effect.

Because of his commitment to countering climate change, Guggenheim is an advocate of producing more solar energy and has been speaking at public hearings and meetings on it. He is opposed to the 1,000 foot setbacks being discussed as part of the Unified Development Ordinance being proposed by the County ‘s Area Plan Commissions and believes it will stymie development. He believes “Earth Day is Every Day” not just April 22 every year.