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Valerie is an award-winning journalist who became a prominent voice for New Jersey's gardening community during a 10-year tenure as garden writer and columnist for The Star-Ledger. The Home & Garden section she helped launch won a 2002 Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Award for weekly supplements. In addition to cover stories, she wrote the section's signature column, "Garden Diary," that won a 2003 National Headliner Award and was submitted twice for Pulitzer Prize consideration. In 2009, she will receive from the the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morris Township the Annual Award recognizing individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the horticultural world.