2013 Honorary Members

In keeping with its mission, the Garden Club of America annually recognizes extraordinary efforts in the fields of gardening, botany, conservation, and education through the extension of honorary memberships. With appreciation for their achievements, the GCA welcomed the following new Honorary Members in its centennial 2013 year:

Katherine Astor

Proposed by the Seattle Garden Club, Zone XII
Seconded by the Cohasset Garden Club, Zone I

Katherine Astor is a dedicated and knowledgeable gardener, noted lecturer and gracious hostess for private tours of English gardens. She has spent the last 24 years restoring the neglected seven-acre gardens of Kirby House, her home in Southern England. Katherine has welcomed many guests for outstanding garden tours ranging from country cottages to grand estates of architectural significance in England and Europe. She is Chairman Emeritus for the British Memorial Garden Trust that gave a garden in Lower Manhattan as the British contribution to the area devastated by the September 11, 2001 tragedy.

Peter Del Tredici

Proposed by the Garden Club of Buzzards Bay, Zone I
Seconded by the Noanett Garden Club, Zone I

Dr. Peter Del Tredici is Senior Research Scientist, Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University, and a lecturer at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He has inspired and captivated audiences with his enthusiasm, knowledge and humor. Peter is an expert on the Ginkgo biloba. He recently published Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: A Field Guide, which catalogs and describes many species of urban wildflowers, weed and other plants that flourish without human support and can be beneficial to the quality of urban life – a new treatise on invasives.

Darrel Morrison

Proposed by the Ulster Garden Club, Zone III
Seconded by the Millbrook Garden Club, Zone III

Darrel Morrison is a landscape architect, teacher, author and passionate advocate for the use of native plants. He has worked throughout the United States designing native plant landscapes: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin, Texas; nature trail system, MacDonald Woods, Chicago Botanic Garden; restoration of native grasses, Storm King Art Center; landscape plan for the restoration of the Old Stone Mill, New York Botanical Garden. Darrel has served on the faculties of the Universities of Georgia and Wisconsin and currently teaches at Columbia University. He was the keynote speaker at the 2010 Shirley Meneice Conference. Darrel views landscape as something that is natural, fitting and unique: not imposed.

Paul Redman

Proposed by the Garden Club of Wilmington, Zone V
Seconded by the Little Garden Club of Columbus, Zone X

Paul Redman has been a dedicated and passionate leader during transformational periods at the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Garden in Columbus, Ohio and now at Longwood Gardens. His remarkable gift of bringing the talents of the community together under enlightened leadership and focused vision in the areas of civic improvement, green initiatives and the integration of art and culture has expanded programs, attendance and resources. Paul is an enthusiastic advocate of the 3-way partnership among the GCA, the Royal Horticulture Society and Longwood Gardens that provides an alternative placement for British Interchange Fellows at Longwood Gardens.