2019 GCA Honorary Members Announced

May 21, 2019

Meet these four outstanding individuals.

In keeping with its purpose, The Garden Club of America annually recognizes extraordinary efforts in such fields as gardening, botany, conservation, education, and design through the extension of honorary memberships. With appreciation for their achievements, the GCA welcomes the following new honorary members for 2019:

William G. Cullina

Proposed by Garden Club of Mount Desert, Zone I
Seconded by Piscataqua Garden Club, Zone I

William G. Cullina, nominated by Zone I, is the president and CEO of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. Prior to this appointment, he served as the director of horticulture and plant and garden curator of Coastal Maine Botanical Garden. As nursery director and head propagator, director of plant research and development for the New England Wild Flower Society, he developed the largest plant nursey in New England and introduced over a dozen named cultivars. He was awarded The GCA Sarah Francis Chapman Medal in 2011 for his outstanding books on native plant species and their propagation.

Eric T. Haskell

Proposed by Pasadena Garden Club, Zone XII
Seconded by Diggers Garden Club, Zone XII

Eric T. Haskell, nominated by Zone XII, is professor emeritus of french studies and interdisciplinary studies, Scripps College and director emeritus of the Clark Humanities Museum, Scripps College. Among GCA member clubs, he is well renowned and appreciated for his lectures on 19th c. French landscape, literature, history and culture. In 2012, he was inducted as knight into the Ordre des Palmes Académiques, a honor established by Napoleon, which recognizes distinguished teaching, uncommon scholarship and extraordinary leadership over the course of a professor's career. In 2013, by decree of the French minister of culture, he was knighted Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Gordon Hayward

Proposed by Monadnock Garden Club, Zone I
Seconded by Garden Club of Dublin, Zone I

Gordon Hayward, nominated by Zone l, is a garden designer and horticulturist. He has been designing gardens for thirty years. He has written eleven books on garden design and over a twenty-five year span, he has published many articles for the garden journals Horticulture, Fine Gardening, and Organic Gardening magazine. He lectures nationwide to garden clubs, botanical garden symposia, landscape association conventions and other garden related organizations. His own outstanding garden in Putney, Vermont, has been documented and added to the Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens.

Richard T. Olsen

Proposed by Perennial Garden Club, Zone VI
Seconded by Green Spring Valley Garden Club, Zone VI

Richard T. Olsen, nominated by Zone VI, is the director of the U.S. National Arboretum. He is a plant scientist and geneticist, environmentalist, and recognized leader in the international public garden arena. He has served as consultant to Casey Trees since 2014. His research on Catalpa chionanthus for urban forests will culminate with their much-anticipated release to the commercial market within the next several years. He serves on the JC Raulston Arboretum Board of Directors. In 1998, he was named as an alternate for the GCA Martin McLaren Scholarship Fellow, Royal Horticultural Society, British Isles.

In Other News...

This Month in GCA History
April 29, 2019

This Month in GCA History - March
March 26, 2019

The GCA to receive Rachel Carson Women in Conservation Award
March 20, 2019

See All News