NURTURE 2020
A GCA Virtual Flower Show

The purpose of a Garden Club of America flower show is three-fold: to set standards of artistic and horticultural excellence, to broaden knowledge of horticulture, flower arrangement, conservation, and other related areas, and to share the beauty of a show with fellow club members and the public. Unfortunately, restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant that GCA clubs could not hold events in person. While on a socially-distanced hike, a group of Albemarle Garden Club members discussed all that they missed about garden club events, flower shows in particular. Thus, the idea of a virtual flower show began to take shape.

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A Lookout Mountain Garden Seeks Its Tennessee Identity
“Survival of the Fittest” Plants Get the Nod

When created, Jane’s Garden, a pocket park in Tennessee, had lofty goals to include the botanical favorites of its namesake, the late Jane Davenport Jensen, a Lookout Mountain native who had established an Asian garden in California. But as the Garden Club of Lookout Mountain (GCLM) members found after taking the reins of garden maintenance last year, plants that thrive in California don’t necessarily survive in Tennessee.

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2021 GCA Honorary Members Announced
Botany, Conservation and Landscape Architecture Achievements Celebrated

In recognition of their achievements in furthering the purpose of the GCA, three outstanding individuals are announced as new honorary members of The Garden Club of America. They are William Edward Friedman, PhD, Marla Spivak, PhD, and Susan Cohen. To learn more about the new honorary members click read more below.

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2021 National GCA Medalists Announced
Highest Honors for for Distinguished Achievements

The Garden Club of America has announced the recipients of the 2021 national medals, the highest honors bestowed upon individuals or institutions by the GCA for distinguished achievements in areas related to its purpose. With a long-standing tradition of celebrating extraordinary efforts to protect and beautify the planet, The Garden Club of America will present the medals at its 108th annual meeting in May. The Garden Club of America is pleased to honor the following 2021 medalists.

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GCA Scholars - Where are They Now?
Former GCA Scholar Lucas Joppa is Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Officer

In 2003, Lucas Joppa was awarded the GCA’s Clara Carter Higgins Summer Environmental Studies Scholarship. Fast forward seventeen years — he is now Dr. Joppa (PhD in Ecology) and serves as Microsoft’s first chief environmental officer. Some of the credit, he says, goes to that early support from the GCA. “The Garden Club of America was one of the first organizations to take a chance on me. I can draw a direct line from that scholarship through to service in the Peace Corps, a National Science Foundation Fellowship, my first job as a computational ecologist, and my current role.”

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Ashe’s Magnolia Redux
Revisiting the 2017 Freeman Plant of the Year

Ashe’s magnolia (Magnolia ashei), a rare beauty from the Florida panhandle, received the Montine McDaniel Freeman Horticulture Award in 2017 as The Garden Club of America’s native Plant of the Year. Valued for its large creamy white blossoms with pink and purple markings that bloom in late spring, its citrus scented fragrance, and its cone-shaped pink-purple aggregates that add fall interest, it is heat tolerant and disease resistant. Magnolia ashei has been praised as “an ideal specimen tree for the small garden.”

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Bounty of the Garden Renews a Holiday Tradition
Decorating the Christmas Tree at Chester County Hospital

The West Chester Garden Club, in West Chester, PA, knew that it had to do something extra special when decorating the Christmas tree in the lobby of the Chester County Hospital. For the past three years, the club’s thirty-year partnership with the hospital had been interrupted due to a multi-phase construction project. With COVID-19 restrictions dampening spirits, club members thought of a wonderful way to raise hopes — by bringing the bounty harvested from their gardens into the newly renovated lobby. Allium, pinecone wreaths, okra pods, and hydrangeas were all painted a striking silver. Other ornaments included mini tools and seed packs. The holiday tree is resplendent, bringing beauty and joy to everyone.

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