Excerpts from the Spring 2020 issue of Living Bird magazine.
Birds form pair bonds for a variety of reasons, and whether they fall in love or not is more a question for philosophers than scientists. So in the following Valentine-themed piece, read excerpts from the Spring 2020 issue of Living Bird magazine. References to affection and emotion are in fun, and take them with a grain of salt (or chocolate)!
GCA Scholar Eric Schwartz spent time in Nebraska, an area ravaged by the Dust Bowl in the early 1930s. Eric, a 2024 Moore Family Fellow in the Making of the American Landscape, was there to study the New Deal-era Prairie States Forestry Project, which planted 200 millions trees in an effort to restore and improve the devastated land. This photo essay serves as a reminder that our association with GCA extends far beyond our garden club and all the way around the world! The GCA distributed almost $460,000 in scholarships in fiscal year 2024 and $402,000 in 2023.
In 2024, The Garden Club of Wilmington created an annual speaker program named in honor of Elizabeth Price Martin. Her varied interests, including Garden History and Design, Conservation and Preservation, and Horticulture, will be highlighted in an annual program by a speaker of note on one of these topics. A member of the Garden Club of Philadelphia, Elizabeth later became the first president of The Garden Club of America. The forward-thinking spirit in all the clubs created The Garden Club of America for “a better knowledge of horticulture among amateurs, for the improvement of our national taste, the preservation of our natural beauty, and for war on its disfigurement.”
Cornell Lab‘s All About Birds recently posted best bird photos from the winter 2024 issue of the Living Bird magazine. The photos cover five themes: The Thrill of the Chase, Birds in Built Environments, Feeding Time, Birds Never Cease to Amaze and Rare Glimpses. Get inspired to go outdoors with your camera and capture birds in your own enviroment.
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) has shared its list of 2024 Gold Medal Plant winners, now available to the public through most garden retailers. The Gold Medal Plant Program was created by PHS in 1979 to celebrate and showcase beautiful, easy-to-grow plant species that are ideal for home gardening. Each year, a committee of horticulture experts convenes to assess trees, shrubs, and perennials on various criteria including their suitability for home gardens in the mid-Atlantic region, their ease of cultivation, ready commercial availability, wildlife value, weather tolerance, and pest resistance.