The Philadelphia Committee of The Garden Club of America
Improving the Quality of Life in the City of Philadelphia for Fifty-Five Years

In 2019, The Philadelphia Committee of The Garden Club of America (PCGCA) awarded over $46,000 in grants to seventeen organizations in the city of Philadelphia whose horticultural projects improve the quality of life in the city’s neighborhoods and the environment. One project that is particularly related to the GCA is the restoration of the Elizabeth Price Martin Azalea Path along the back perimeter of Historic Strawberry Mansion in Fairmount Park.

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GCA Horticulture Shows
Novices and Accomplished Botanists Welcome

A single horticulture specimen, tended and groomed to the peak of its perfection for a Garden Club of America Flower Show, can intoxicate! Nature’s power and a gardener’s care produces awe and admiration of the infinite, intricate beauty. Yet horticulture is gardening, plain and simple, available to everyone.

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The Garden Club of Alexandria and the City of Alexandria, VA
“A Model Public-Private Partnership”

Celebrating the opening of the Ramsay House garden at the Alexandria Tourist Center, The Garden Club of Alexandria (TGCA) cut the ribbon at a ceremony in June. TGCA collaborated with the city of Alexandria, VA on this three-year renovation project. The completed garden includes new patios with memorial bricks, an accessible pathway and patio, native and sustainable plants to provide year-round color, and the only cell phone charging station in an Alexandria park. The historic 18th century Ramsay House, along with its garden entrance, serves as the city’s front door for visitors, residents, and guests.

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Help Solve A Garden Mystery - The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Gardens
Unidentified Garden in Pasadena, California, (1919-1949)

Do you love gardens and the thrill of the hunt? The Garden Club of America Collection at the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Gardens has images of numerous gardens across the United States that need a bit of sleuthing to be positively identified. Some images belonged to slide lectures that were dismantled over time or simply never were labelled. Regardless of how it happened, they are a mystery! If this garden looks familiar to you, please click read more below.

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The Garden Club of America’s Rare Book Collection
Bibliophiles On Alert!

The Library of The Garden Club of America was established in 1914 with a gift of nine books. Since then the collection has grown to almost 4,000 volumes acquired by donations from GCA authors, GCA club members, their families, publishers, and other authors. The library collections include 700 rare books that are housed at the Mertz Library at the New York Botanical Garden. The Mertz Library and the GCA Rare Book Collection welcomes visitors - for details about the volumes in the collection and visiting information, read more below.

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From The Garden Club of America Collection at the Archives of American Gardens
Is it a Patio or Terrace?

The source of the overlap between the terms patio and terrace appears to be etymology. Patio is Spanish for courtyard, which can have different connotations from the English use of the word patio. In A Glossary of Garden History, Michael Symes mentions that a patio is sometimes referred to as a Spanish-style terrace! However, terrace is derived from the Latin “terre,” meaning earth and is most easily identifiable in terrace gardens, where the landscape is manipulated to have multiple levels of planes.

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A Moment in GCA History…
Famed Conservation Packet, An Educational Tool Stood The Test of Time

The Garden Club of America has been a leader in providing expertise on environmental issues for the benefit of the country. During the 1950s and 1960s, this mantra translated into an earnest focus on the youth of America.

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