Help Solve A Garden Mystery - The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Gardens
Tobie Garden / Unidentified location (between 1914 and 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 labeled. Regardless of how it happened, they are a mystery! If this garden looks familiar to you, please READ MORE.

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GCA Scholar Dr. Quave Researches Botanical Solution
Acne: Age-old Teenage Problem

Approximately 85% of the human population suffers from acne at some point in their lives, negatively impacting self-esteem, self-confidence, and social life. Now a plant extract may finally be the solution to the problem. Ethnobotanist Dr. Cassandra Quave, recipient of the GCA’s Anne S. Chatham Fellowship in Medicinal Botany in 2007, has concluded research on a native southeastern United States shrub that has shown great potential as a natural way to treat common acne.

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Meant to Bee: Bee City Designation has Big Impact
Beaumont, Texas is Blooming!

The members of the Magnolia Garden Club took action when they learned about an opportunity for their city of Beaumont, Texas, to become a Bee City. The idea was proposed to the City Council, approved in October 2018, and Beaumont was designated the third Bee City in Texas. The mission of Bee City USA® galvanizes communities to sustain pollinators by providing them with a healthy habitat, rich in a variety of native plants and free to nearly free of pesticides. Statistics on pollinators are impressive; they are responsible for 1 in 3 bites we eat and the reproduction of almost 90% of the world's flowering plant species. To date, there are 98 Bee Cities and counting.

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“The Catesby” in the GCA’s Rare Book Collection at the NYBG
The twenty-sixth oldest book in the collection...

The LuEsther T. Mertz Library at the New York Botanical Garden is home to the GCA’s rare book collection – 717 volumes ranging in age from 1612-2012. The twenty-sixth oldest book in the collection and meticulously restored is Mark Catesby’s, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands (1771), affectionately known as “The Catesby.”

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Carmel-by-the-Sea Garden Club Honored
Civic Projects, Community Outreach, and Education

The Carmel-by-the-Sea Garden Club was honored by the city of Carmel, California for its dedicated service and significant contributions to the community. The collaboration between the city and the garden club has restored gardens, protected land from commercial development, and restored native plants and habitats to upland prairies, marshlands, and threatened areas. Since 1981, Carmel-by-the-Sea Garden Club has concentrated its efforts on civic projects, community outreach, and education.

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The GCA Recognizes Outstanding Teachers in Early Environmental Education
2019 Hull Award Winners

Bees, trees, and lettuce seeds… these topics and more were brought to classrooms across the country by 13 outstanding teachers, all recipients of the GCA’s 2019 Elizabeth Abernathy Hull Award. The Garden Club of America’s Elizabeth Abernathy Hull Award annually recognizes the outstanding achievements of individuals furthering the early environmental education of children. Established in 1992, the Hull Award provides $1,000 to chosen recipients who honor Miss Hull’s common sense approach to environmental awareness by inspiring children under 16 to appreciate the beauty and fragility of our planet. One-hundred and forty-four awards have been granted over the past 27 years.

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GCA Scholarships: The Legacy Continues

The Garden Club of America has a long history of supporting and identifying the next generation of environmental leaders through a merit-based scholarship program. In 1929, the GCA’s first scholarship award was given to Richard K. Webel by the American Academy of Rome for the Rome Prize in Landscape Architecture. Since then, the GCA has awarded more than $6 million in scholarships to over 1,400 students at the undergraduate and graduate level for their work in horticulture and purpose-related fields.

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