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New Native Plant Studies Scholarship Announced by The Garden Club of America

  • 12/06/17

NEW YORK, NY – The Garden Club of America (GCA) is offering a new scholarship in native plant studies, with applications now being accepted. The Montine M. Freeman Scholarship in Native Plant Studies supports the study of underutilized native plants at an accredited U.S. college or university or a major botanic garden or arboretum. The GCA will fund one or more Freeman Scholarships annually at a minimum of $3,000.

The scholarship is open to undergraduates and graduate students, advanced degree candidates or non-degree-seeking applicants above the high school level. U.S. citizens and permanent residents enrolled in a U.S.-based institution are eligible.  To apply, visit www.gcamerica.org/index.cfm/scholarships/details/id/35. Deadline is February 1 preceding the period of study.

“The scholarship’s purpose is to encourage the understanding, development, and use of underutilized native plants through research, documentation and teaching in the field of horticulture,” says Kathy Keller, GCA Scholarship Committee chairman.

The Freeman Scholarship was created in cooperation with the family of the late Montine McDaniel Freeman of New Orleans. A member of the New Orleans Town Gardeners, a GCA club, Mrs. Freeman was an outstanding horticulturist particularly enamored of native plants. Her 93-acre Beechwood Gardens in Covington, LA, boasted more than 4,000 azaleas, camellias and magnolia grandifloras.

The GCA offers 28 merit-based scholarships and fellowships, awarding more than $330,000 in 2017. GCA scholarships are available in medicinal and tropical botany, native bird habitat, conservation and ecological restoration, desert studies, landscape architecture, urban forestry, garden history and design, coastal wetlands, and pollinator research.

More information about the Freeman and other GCA scholarships may be found at www.gcamerica.org/scholarships and at @gcascholarships on Twitter.

The GCA is a nonprofit national organization composed of 200 clubs with nearly 18,000 members who devote energy and expertise to projects in their communities and across the U.S. Founded in 1913, the GCA is a leader in horticulture, conservation, and civic improvement.

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