Join GCA in the City – Boston for a guided tour of a 1924 Fletcher Steele garden in full bloom. Stroll through peonies, rhododendrons, azaleas, and irises at their peak, followed by refreshments and a floral demonstration with peonies fresh from the garden.
Registration required. Save your spot by emailing gcainthecity@gcamerica.org. Open to non-members in the Boston metro area.
The Garden Club of America (GCA) has announced the recipients of its 2026 national medals, the highest honor bestowed upon individuals and organizations by the GCA for distinguished achievements in areas related to its purpose.
Native Plant Trust’s Director of Horticulture Uli Lorimer is among the honorees, being awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his dedication to the conservation of native plant species and the restoration of native plant communities. 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 113th annual meeting in April 2026 in New York City. Congratulations Uli!
Photo: Uli Lorimer at Garden in the Woods @patrickrphotos
The Boston Committee of the GCA invites member and affiliate Club members to The Country Club on Clyde Road in Brookline on Wednesday, October 29. Coffee and lecture begin at 10:00 am and optional lunch begins at noon. There will be short remarks by Esplanade Association Executive Director Jen Mergel (below) and Esplanade Association Arborist Jim Doyle. They will speak about What’s Good Along the Charles River, and you will learn more about the native tree grove that the Boston Committee will fund. There will also be another speaker, to be announced. For more information visit https://bostoncommitteegca.org/
The Boston Committee of The Garden Club of America will hold its Spring Meeting, Lecture and Luncheon on April 24 at The Gardens at Elm Bank in Wellesley. The meeting will include a lecture, lunch, and tour of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s 55,000 tulips in bloom. Mass Hort Executive Director James Hearsum will speak on Gardens as a Community Asset. James Hearsum is an accomplished horticulturist and leader with a proven track record of advancing botanical and community-focused organizations. From 2014 to 2019, he served as the Executive Director of St. Andrews Botanic Garden in Scotland, where he spearheaded transformative initiatives in guest experience, outreach, and education. Under his leadership, the garden established a sustainable Urban Farm, a Butterfly House, and a Community Hub, while also expanding its reach to previously underserved communities.
Since 2020, Hearsum has brought his extensive horticultural experience and dynamic leadership to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, continuing to advance excellence in horticulture and community engagement.
Members of member clubs of The Boston Committee will receive an invitation. $35 lecture only, $60 lecture and luncheon. If you are not a member, you may consider joining The Garden Club of the Back Bay, which is one of the affiliate clubs.
The Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America is pleased to announce its Fall Lecture and Lunch featuring David O’Neill of the Massachusetts Audubon Society as the featured speaker. David is a Conservation Superhero: prior to his senior roles with Audubon, he served as Vice President at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and Director of Land Use Policy and Outreach for the Urban Land Institute
Members of garden clubs who are part of the Boston Committee will receive notice of the October 29 meeting, and a link to register, but if you are missing the information visit https://bostoncommitteegca.org/
The Cohasset Garden Club is sponsoring a free public conservation meeting on Wednesday, April 24 beginning at 6:30 pm at the Lightkeeper’s Residence in Cohasset featuring Jessica Donahue, Research Associate, Sea Education Association. For 35 years, Sea Education Association (SEA) has been compiling the world’s largest dataset about plastics in the marine environment, including documenting the microplastics that float at the ocean’s surface. Learn about this global problem, why it matters, and the most promising approaches to tackle it.
The Boston Committee of The Garden Club of America will hold its Spring Meeting, Lecture and Luncheon on May 23 at The Country Club in Brookline. The Guest Speaker will be Ethan Carr, author of Boston’s Franklin Park: Olmsted, Recreation, and the Modern City. Members of member clubs of The Boston Committee will receive an invitation. $30 lecture, $35 luncheon. If you are not a member, you may consider joining The Garden Club of the Back Bay, which is one of the affiliate clubs.
The Boston Committee of The Garden Club of America invites members to the Fall Lecture and Luncheon on Thursday, November 9, 2023 at The Country Club in Brookline. The reception begins at 10 am, with business meeting and lecture at 10:30 and luncheon at noon, $30 for the lecture and an additional $35 for luncheon. Invitation will be sent electronically via Eventbrite.
The guest speaker will be the Reverend Miriama White-Hammond, Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Spaces for the City of Boston. She was appointed in April, 2021. In this role, she oversees policy and programs on energy, climate change, food justice, historic preservation, and open space. Over the course of her time with the City, she has supported the amendment of the Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) to set carbon targets for existing large buildings, and convened a City-led green jobs program.
Another guest speaker is Todd Mistor, Director of Urban Forestry of the City of Boston. Todd is originally from Michigan, where he has many years of urban forestry experience working for the City of Detroit and other smaller municipalities. He has studied forestry as well and philosophy and theology which help bring a well-rounded perspective to his work. He is also a Certified Arborist with a Municipal Specialization through the International Society of Arboriculture.
The Garden Club of the Back Bay is a member of The Boston Committee of The Garden Club of America, and if you wish to attend and are not a member of another participating Garden Club, explore the benefits of GCBB membership HERE.
As Director of Conservation, Michael Piantedosi leads the Native Plant Trust’s internationally recognized Conservation Department, which focuses on saving imperiled plants, restoring habitat, and documenting the state of New England’s plants. Michael oversees a team of conservation staff and many of the 1,500 trained volunteers who work throughout New England each year to monitor and protect rare and endangered plants, collect and preserve seeds to ensure biological diversity, detect
and control invasive species, and conduct research. Michael is active in the Center for Plant Conservation network where the Native Plant Trust acts as a Participating Institution (PI). He is also the point of contact for listing New England rare plants on the IUCN Red List (the international list of rare and endangered species). Prior to joining NPT, Michael was Curatorial Horticulturalist at the Museum of Science, Boston, and held positions at the Woodman Horticultural Research Farm and the
Center for Freshwater Biology. He recently co-authored the landmark publication ‘Conserving Plant Diversity in New England,’
” a collaboration of NPT and the Nature Conservancy. The Boston Committee of The Garden Club of America invites its members to the Fall Lecture and Luncheon on November 10 beginning with a reception at 10 am, the lecture at 10:30, and luncheon at 11:30, at The Country Club in Brookline. Club members will receive an invitation through Eventbrite. For more information visit https://bostoncommitteegca.org/
This virtual flower show, “Around the Green,” has been produced as a component of the GCA’s 2021 Annual Meeting. It is open to the public through September 30, 2021. We welcome curious visitors — look and learn!
Entries are grouped into classes with specific requirements within a division, like floral design or photography. You may explore in any order, taking note of comments from the judges, unique awards, and even plant identification lists. Then head behind the scenes for how-to blog posts, learn more about The Garden Club of America, and discover how you can take action in areas of our interest: gardening, creating, advocating for a beautiful, healthy planet. The public is encouraged to attend “virtually” at https://flowershow.gcamerica.org/
