The Board of Trustees of Massachusetts Horticultural Society (MHS) has announced its 2024 Honorary Medals recipients. The 7 winners will be celebrated at the 121st Honorary Medals Dinner at the Garden at Elm Bank in Wellesley, MA on October 30, 2024. This year, MHS will continue a 193-year tradition of awarding medals to individuals and organizations for their contributions to excellence in horticulture for the public good.
Douglas W. Tallamy will be awarded the George Robert White Medal of Honor, MHS’s highest honor, for eminent
service in the field of horticulture, and will deliver the keynote speech during the ceremony. A New York Times bestselling
author, his books, including Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard (2020) and The
Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees (2021), have delivered the importance of horticultural
conservation to homes across the world. As a professor in University of Delaware’s Department of Entomology and
Wildlife Ecology, he advocates for smaller lawns, native plants, and habitats for native species. His advocacy work is echoed
through his founding of Homegrown National Park, a grassroots organization that encourages everyone to grow native
plants.
Matthew Cunningham will receive the Thomas Roland Medal for exceptional skill in horticulture and lectures.
Founding Principal of Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC, he is an award-winning and nationally recognized
landscape architect.
Gold Medals for eminent horticultural accomplishments will be awarded to David Barnett (President and CEO
Emeritus, Mount Auburn Cemetery) and Tom Ryan (Senior Principal and Owner, Ryan Associates Landscape Architecture
and Planning). Patrick Chassé (landscape architect), Dr. Barbara E. Millen (Board Chair, Center for Plant Conservation;
Trustee, Massachusetts Horticultural Society and a long time Board Member of The Boston Committee of the GCA), and Murphy Westwood, PhD (Vice President of Science and Conservation, The Morton Arboretum) will receive Silver Medals for their noteworthy service in horticulture. More details about each awardee and their recognition will become available at https://www.masshort.org/honorary-medals/.
The 121st Honorary Medals Dinner will take place Wednesday, October 30, 2024 at 6 pm at Massachusetts
Horticultural Society’s Garden at Elm Bank. The dinner will be preceded by a day-long symposium, featuring lectures by
medal winners Doug Tallamy, Matt Cunningham, Tom Ryan, and Murphy Westwood. Tickets for the awards ceremony
including dinner and drinks are $180; symposium tickets are $250 for General Admission and $200 for Boston Society of
Landscape Architects and MHS members. Proceeds benefit excellence in horticulture at MHS. For event information and
to purchase tickets when they are released, please visit https://www.masshort.org/honorary-medals/
