Norman Eugene Pellett passed peacefully in his sleep on December 8, 2023.
Norman was born to the late Melvin Ambrose Pellett and Elizabeth Louise (Dallinger) Pellett on June 26, 1934, in Atlantic, Iowa. He grew up never far from a trowel at Pellett Gardens, his family’s vegetable and fruit farm, and began his education in the nearby, one-room schoolhouse.
After spotting the prettiest girl on day one in Horticulture 101, he quickly nabbed her and made Dorothy Jean (Engel) his wife, and they both graduated from Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) with a bachelor’s degree in science in horticulture.
They joined his parents at Pellett Gardens in 1958 to expand the business into nursery production and landscape design and installation. After a few years, Norman pursued his graduate studies and received his MS and PhD in horticultural science and plant physiology from the University of Minnesota. Norman next served two years in the U. S. Army, with 16 months in the Army Transportation Corps, serving arriving troopships in Yokohama, Japan.
In 1964, Norman accepted his first position as assistant professor of horticulture at SUNY Cobleskill to teach horticulture and develop a new curriculum in nursery management. In 1967, they pulled up roots, and he accepted a position as an extension ornamental horticulturist at the University of Vermont, where he conducted outreach education for nursery and greenhouse operators, landscape architects and designers, and the gardening public, while also conducting research on plant cold hardiness, plant propagation and plant adaptation to Vermont winters. In 1980, he exchanged his extension role for an undergraduate professorship and continued his plant research, where he helped study and develop cold-hardy cultivars in rhododendron, azalea, and forsythia, such as forsythia ‘Vermont Sun’. The Vermont gardening world is well-mulched, with many of Norman’s accomplished students who fondly remember him as a playful yet challenging professor.
During his 29 years on the faculty of the University of Vermont, he published multiple professional and refereed journal articles, leaflets, and books on his research and a variety of gardening topics; advised hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students; and gave frequent gardening presentations to home gardeners and professional horticulturists.
He served as vice president and president of the Northeast Region of the American Horticultural Society and northeast representative to the American Society for Horticultural Science. Awards and honors include the American Society for Horticultural Science’s Alex Laurie Award in 1970 for the best research paper in Floriculture, Ornamental, and Landscape Horticulture; the UVM Joseph E. Carrigan Award in 1985 for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; the Vermont Association of Professional Horticulturists Award for contributions to the industry in 1994; an Honorary Life Membership in the Vermont Association of Professional Horticulturists in 2000; and finally, in 2016, the University of Vermont College of Agriculture’s Sinclair Award for professional advancement in his field/discipline of expertise, achieving special recognition, awards, and honors which reflect a noteworthy and exemplary career.
After retirement from UVM in 1996, he authored The Gardener’s Quiz Book, History of the University of Vermont Horticulture Research Center, The Pellett Gardens Story, and The Life of Frank Chapman Pellett (his famous apiarist grandfather). He co-authored Landscape Plants for Vermont. He has served the town of Charlotte as a member of the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Committee and the Rutter Tree Fund Committee.
Norman always generously gave his love and support, access to his remarkable practical skills and know-how, and, of course, that untiring baseball-throwing arm to his sons. The twinkle in his eye, that irresistible trademark Pellett-family giggle, and his gentle, affectionate teasing is already terribly missed.
Norman was predeceased by his wife, Dorothy Jean, in September 2023; his son Dwight Allen Pellett in 1960; and by his daughter, Kerri Pellett Frost, in 1994.
He is survived by his sons, Alden Pellett (Tara Brown) and Andrew Pellett (Rachel Smith); grandchildren, Hannah Frost and Laurel Pellett; and son-in-law, Gregory Frost.
Please join us in a private memorial gathering for Norman on Saturday, January 13, 2024, between 2 and 5 p.m., at the Essex Resort & Spa, 70 Essex Way, Essex, VT. Please bring remembrances to share.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Norman’s memory can be made locally to the Nature Conservancy (of Vermont), 575 Stone Cutters Way, Montpelier, VT 05602.
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2023.
This is the passing of a legend. Norm Pellett was one of my favorite professors at UVM (DeeDee Jameson and Ippocrates Pappoutsakis were the other two) and I took all of his classes. What a knowledgeable, kind, wonderful man. As a slightly older student, I found his classes invigorating and challenging, especially the Woody Ornamentals, which involved the memorization of botanical names of trees and shrubs and being able to identify each one by leaf, bud, branching pattern and/or bark. He would take our class outside (most of the classes were outdoors) and we would jog behind him, when, stopping abruptly, he would announce Quiz Plant #1, #2, etc., and we would hastily jot down the common and botanical name and put our slips into his outstretched hand. Then, off we would go to the next one. I continued my contact with him for the next 30-plus years in the world of plants and gardening and always looked forward to seeing him in the spring. He will be so missed by my entire family.
Norm Pellett was an amazing man and incredible professor. If I was having a not so great day on campus I would just take one look at his face and I would feel at ease. Literally. I was blessed to have him guide me in a couple areas of my education. I only wish my younger self knew what an incredible man and mentor he COULD have been for me to leverage more. When I graduated from UVM with a degree in Plant & Soil Science both Norm and Bertie Boyce were “double trouble”. They made me laugh, and with their dry yankee wit and superior teaching ability – I actually learned the material. What a gift he was. I could not have been more thrilled than when “double trouble” attended my UVM graduation – such gentlemen. Norm was humble, talented, challenging and excelled at excellence. Because HE was the ESSENCE of EXCELLENCE. I feel blessed and utmost respect to Dr. P I hope you building I beautiful garden up stairs, I hope to join you someday – a beloved UVM alum
Norm was a friend and mentor to me as we served together on a tree planting committee. He and I loved to talk plants and visit gardens together. We had a few road trips to various other events, always involving horticulture. I am the proud owner of some of his scholarly books about New England flora as well as his memoir about his family nursery business started in 1907. I feel blessed to have known him.
Norman was a kind and generous man, and a wonderful mentor while I attended graduate school at UVM. He was simultaneously supportive of my work yet tenacious in pressing me to question the assumptions and conclusions in my research. His dry wit helped me get through difficult days, and he instilled a life-long appreciation for the value in developing critical perspective. I also had the incredibly good fortune to spend time with he and Dorothy at their home, to visit his cabin retreat, and thanks to a complementary referral go on to work with his brother Harold at the University of Minnesota after graduating. I’m forever grateful to have had the opportunity to get to know Norman and to glean a little something from his vast knowledge of horticulture. Thank you Norm!