Benches: Sometimes More than Just a Place to Sit
Seating in the form of council rings.

Benches can be found in many different garden spaces; from wooden benches along paths in public parks to stone benches in secluded areas of private gardens. Seating is an important feature that is incorporated into all types of gardens, however it can be used for much more than just enjoying the scenery.

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Help Solve A Garden Mystery
The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Gardens Unidentified Garden in Georgia (08/01/1967)

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 READ MORE.

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The GCA in the news…
The River Oaks Garden Club’s Azalea Trail Cited as the "Event of the Year"

“The Event of the Year” in River Oaks, Houston is the GCA’s River Oaks Garden Club’s Azalea Trail, reported as such by The Wall Street Journal on July 16, 2019 in “Everything’s Bigger in Texas…..” And “big” is the trail: azaleas and flowers in full bloom, beautiful museum mansions and gardens, significant private homes, horticulture and pollinator education, and philanthropy.

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GCA Scholar in the News...
Dr. Samantha Alger New Study Links Bumblebee Decline to a Virus

Dr. Samantha Alger, 2014 recipient of The Garden Club of America Board of Associates Centennial Pollinator Fellow, credits the early support she received from the GCA for jump-starting her career and feels the grant was integral to a recent project she led. Dr. Alger’s recent study, published on June 26, 2019, in the journal PLOS ONE, states that the decline of many native bumblebee species has been linked to an increased prevalence of pathogens caused by spillovers from managed honeybees in apiaries. Read more about Dr. Alger's groundbreaking research...

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The Reviving America's Scenic Byways Act of 2019
GCA Backed Bill Becomes Law

The Garden Club of America is pleased to announce that President Trump has signed into law the Reviving America’s Scenic Byways Act of 2019. This bill was a legislative priority at the GCA's 2019 National Affairs and Legislative Meeting in Washington, DC. GCA club members responded to a Call to Action and wrote letters to their respective elected officials. The bill revives the Scenic Byways program at the Department of Transportation, which has been dormant for ten years.

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How I Spent My Summer – Saving The Redwoods
The GCA and STRL Educate the Next Generation

The Garden Club of America and Save the Redwoods League has a long history of collaboration and support. In 1931, the GCA first forged a working relationship with STRL to purchase and permanently protect the 2,552-acre Garden Club of America Grove. Since then, both organizations have been actively engaged in not only protecting the environment, but also growing the next generation of environmentalists, botanists, and horticultural scientists.

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The State of Ohio Designates April as “Ohio Native Plant Month”
GCA club member Nancy Linz coordinated this state-wide support.

Native Plants gain recognition in Ohio. Governor DeWine Signs Bill. Native plants are part of an intricate, balanced web, that help filter and clean our drinking water, remove contaminants from the air we breathe, cool planet earth, and feed the bees that pollinate most food crops. This summer, House Bill 59 of the 133rd Ohio General Assembly was signed into law by Governor Mike DeWine designating the month of April as Ohio Native Plant Month. With this legislation, the state of Ohio became one of the first states in the country to designate one month each year to recognize native plants and the essential role they play. GCA club member Nancy Linz, shepherded House Bill 59 from the idea stage to the paper document that landed on Governor DeWine’s desk in July.

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