THE GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA
The beautiful book Gardens Private and Personal is available through the GCA website.
The purpose of The Garden Club of America is to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening, to share the advantages of association by means of educational meetings, conferences, correspondence and publications, and to restore, improve, and protect the quality of the environment, through educational programs and action in the fields of conservation and civic improvement.
The Garden Club of America is 199 member clubs in 40 States and District of Columbia with approximately 18,000 women and men who are members of these clubs. There are reciprocal clubs in 8 countries.
Educational meetings, conferences, correspondence, and publications:
- Garden Club of America Annual Meetings are a rotating responsibility with attendance of approximately 700 delegates and officers.
- Twelve (12) regional meetings annually with attendance of approximately 100 delegates and officers.
- Annual education meetings in flower arranging, horticulture, and national affairs and legislation
- Bi-monthly report to all members: The Bulletin.
- Brochures on conservation and horticulture
- Major reference works on horticulture, garden history, and flower arranging.
Educational programs
- Lectures on horticulture, conservation, and garden design offered by clubs to their local communities.
- Scholarships for both graduate and undergraduate study at universities or in the field, in the United States and abroad. The annual year-long program in the United Kingdom is the McLaren Scholarship with the reciprocal GCA Interchange Fellowship for a British student to spend a year of study in the United States.
- Flower Shows open to the public include 8 major flower shows and approximately 30 local flower shows mounted by one or two clubs in collaboration. Exhibits include judged floral design and horticulture, as well as educational exhibits in the fields of conservation, environmental concerns, horticulture techniques, and garden design. Almost every club holds a flower show annually for members only.
Grants and projects
- Founders Fund since 1936 has awarded annual substantial monetary awards to member clubs for exceptional community projects.
- Club members plant and maintain public spaces and historic buildings, and help to create inner city gardens.
- The Garden Club of America has made major donations such as a Redwood Grove in the 1930s, a collection of thousands of glass slides of early 20th century gardens from individual GCA clubs nationwide to the Smithsonian Institution and a significant project by every club to mark the Millennium.
Awards
Annual national awards in recognition of significant contributions by outstanding landscape designers, educators, writers, environmentalists, horticulturists, conservationists, and floral designers.
The McLaren Scholarship/Interchange Fellowship
GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA INTERCHANGE FELLOWSHIP & MARTIN MCLAREN SCHOLARSHIP
To foster British-American relations through the interchange of scholars in horticulture, botany, landscape architecture and environmental studies.
We are fortunate to have had a current McLaren Scholarship recipient, Grace Chapman, and one former McLaren Scholarship recipient, Colleen Schuetz work on our Chelsea project.
The Garden Club of America Interchange Fellowship & Martin McLaren Scholarship provide a reciprocal exchange of British and American graduate students in horticulture, landscape architecture, or related fields. The intent of the program is to foster cultural understanding, promote horticultural studies and exchange information in this field. The Martin McLaren Horticultural Scholarship provides a noncredit work/study program in Great Britain for an American recipient, selected by the GCA Scholarship Committee.
The academic year offers periods for study, research, and practical work at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and Edinburgh and other botanic gardens, the National Trust gardens, as well as an optional university semester at Reading University.
The Interchange Fellowship provides funding for a British recipient to attend a graduate program in the U.S. in landscape architecture or horticulture for one academic year. Selection is by a committee appointed by the McLaren Trust. The program is administered in the U.S. by The GCA Scholarship Committee and in the U.K. by the Royal Horticultural Society. The McLaren scholar is able to combine practical experience and study at several institutions. She/he is expected to arrive in England during the summer to allow adequate time for visits to sites or horticultural interest. The Martin McLaren trust provides for the major costs of housing, board, tuition and an allowance for personal needs during the American student's year in Great Britain. All travel arrangements to Great Britain are made by the Garden Club of America. Any additional funds for personal expenses exceeding the allowance are supplied by the candidate. The student is responsible for providing a passport and student visa, or any other documentation with accompanying medical requirements, photos, etc.
The scholarship is for a single unaccompanied person. Because of a 26 year-old age limit on student travel
vouchers in Great Britain and Europe, it is strongly advised that the applicant be 26 or younger. Finalists will be requested to attend an interview at their own expense with time and place determined annually.
Established in 1948
Funds one U.S. student and one British student
Deadline: November 15
Contact: Ms. Judy Smith
The Garden Club of America
14 East 60th Street
New York, NY 10022-1002 USA
Phone: (212) 753-8287, Fax: (212) 753-0134