The Garden Club of America

Choose earth and people-friendly flowers! Source your flowers from responsible growers so that you aren’t exposed to chemical residue from pesticides.? Check out lists of reputable growers who use sustainable practices which protect the people who handle the flowers, while protecting and saving the earth’s many habitats and resources. Keep your flowers in the pink by using clean containers and rinsing stems under running water before snipping the ends. Dahlia ‘Café au Lait’ photographed by a Member of the Wissahickon Garden Club

It’s Photography Friday at the GCA! Furthering the knowledge and love of gardening and the natural landscape through photography. Men ask the way to Cold Mountain Cold Mountain: there’s no through trail. In summer, ice doesn’t melt The rising sun blurs in swirling fog. How did I make it? My heart’s not the same as yours. If your heart was like mine You’d get it and be right here. - Han Shan - ca. 700 AD, translated by Gary Snyder Photo by a member of the Paducah Garden Club, Zone VII. #mountains #mist #wildflowers #kentucky #gardencreateadvocate #thegardenclubofamerica

Zo? Riggs, 2024 Mary T. Carothers Summer Environmental Studies Scholar, credits GCA-supported research in Loreto, Peru, for helping build “a more rounded, empathetic, and critically thinking young professional.” Riggs, an undergraduate in Environmental Sciences at Montreat College, conducted field research this summer that included surveys of wetland plant communities and herpetofaunal - reptiles and amphibians of a particular region or habitat - communities. “Exposure to a variety of ecosystems and kinds of organisms,” explains Riggs, “allows an ecologist to expand their frame of reference when asking questions about the natural world.” https://lnkd.in/eEFRZjFU #GardenCreateAdvocate #GCAScholarships

Traditional floral design techniques meet today’s sustainable floral design. Komiwara, also known as a “bundle of straw,” is a traditional Ikenobo technique in which designers use bundled straw to keep the flowers in place. In this example, paper straws were wrapped with a tatami mat made from bamboo skewers. The tatami mat, river rocks and glass container are reusable; the other components, including the botanicals, are compostable when finished.?

It’s Photography Friday at the GCA! Furthering the knowledge and love of gardening and the natural landscape through photography. The dahlias are coming!? The dahlias are coming!? Photo by a member of the Albemarle Garden Club, Zone VII. #dahlia #latesummer #tuberous #perennials #gardencreateadvocate #thegardenclubofamerica

The Indianapolis Garden Club’s Garden Walk has returned more than $825,000 in grants to public spaces in the Indianapolis community. The walk, conceived 28 years ago, sells tickets and sponsorships for visits to five or six private gardens on the first Wednesday in June—rain or shine. The Garden Walk has become a June tradition and a beloved community event. Patrons leisurely stroll through the properties that range from owner planted and lovingly tended to architect planned, manicured estates. https://lnkd.in/gPR-7wKK #GardenCreateAdvocate

It’s Photography Friday at the GCA! Furthering the knowledge and love of gardening and the natural landscape through photography. “This is the forest primeval. /The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, /Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight [...]” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, from Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie Photo by a member of the Georgetown Garden Club, Zone VI. #longfellow #osageorange #washingtondc #mossy #gardencreateadvocate #thegardenclubofamerica

On March 26, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), the United Kingdom’s leading gardening charity, awarded the Elizabeth Medal of Honour to the Garden Club of America’s 2018 Medal of Honor recipient and president emeritus of the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG), Charles R. “Chipper” Wichman, for his outstanding contributions to horticulture, gardening, and plant conservation. NTBG is a network of botanic gardens, preserves, and research centers in Hawaii and Florida. https://lnkd.in/gc8NU6UC #GardenCreateAdvocate #RoyalHorticulturalSociety

The GCA’s famed Conservation Packet reached many thousands of people. In 1951 GCA’s Conservation Chairman collaborated with renowned environmentalists including Dr. Paul Sears, Richard Pough, and Rachel Carson to create the Conservation Packet, The World Around You. This was a collection of one-page articles which covered a variety of age-appropriate environmental topics intended to supplement existing school curricula and was updated every four years. Up to six thousand packets were sent out a year and were used by organizations such as the Girl Scouts of America, the Peace Corps, and the National Park Service. Faced with such demand, a price of fifty cents per packet was established, just enough to cover postage, paper, and printing costs.