FREEMAN MAGIC

Top right: Prairie smoke, Geum triflorum. Photo by Aaron Carlson from Wikimedia Commons

Bottom left: Cephalanthus occidentalis, buttonbush. Photo by Jim Evans from Wikimedia Commons

Bottom right: Lush stands of Symphyotrichum oblongifolium ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington D.C. Photo by Caroline Schutts The Montine McDaniel Freeman Medal is the only Garden Club of America honor awarded to a plant, and not to a person. But it requires GCA club members to nominate contenders for the award. As the 2022 Freeman Medal deadline approaches, Caroline Schutts, Horticulture Committee Vice Chairman-Freeman Medal and member of the Glenview Garden Club (Zone VII), collected a handful of inspiring stories behind recent Freeman winners. She also shares her own.

aroline Orr, from The Memphis Garden Club (Zone IX) says her inspiration arose from attending the Shirley Meneice Horticulture conference at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in 2016, which in turn led her to study native plants, which she began incorporating into her own garden. In 2021, she nominated what turned out to be the Freeman Medal winner, Cephalanthus occidentalis, or buttonbush.

In 2020 Seta Nersessian of the Fox Hill Garden Club (Zone I) nominated Geum triflorum, prairie smoke. “I was inspired by the Geum triflorum itself. It’s a small and fairly unassuming plant with a quite marvelous, almost magical, flower form that grows just about anywhere,” Seta says. “What could be more inspiring than that?”

Abby Coffin from The Chestnut Hill Garden Club (Zone I), nominated Aristolochia macrophylla, Dutchman’s pipe, which was the 2019 Freeman Winner. “I love the Freeman,” says Abby. “It’s a very structured way to learn about a native plant in great depth.” She used the Dutchman’s pipe in her own garden as a screen on a covered porch. “I was intrigued with its beauty and mystery, and I wanted to know more about it,” Abby continues. “There is no better

way to understand the plant than through the Freeman process.”

Looking for inspiration in her own garden, Alice Wade from the Garden Club of Madison (Zone IV) nominated what turned out to be the winner in 2018. She decided to submit Pycnanthemum muticum known as mountain mint. “My story is simple,” says Alice. “In July of 2017, a garden club friend asked me to identify a plant that I had shared with her the year before. The photo she sent me was none other than Pycnanthemum muticum. As I stood in my garden that summer afternoon, I started thinking this wonderful native perennial could be a contender for the Freeman Medal. Writing up the nomination was easy as I had been growing Pycnanthemum muticum in my New Jersey and Virginia gardens for a few years and was familiar with its characteristics. So, there it was, growing right in my own back yard!”

Magnolia ashei, or ash magnolia, was the 2017 Freeman Medal winner nominated by Leslie Pierpont from the Late Bloomers Garden Club (Zone VIII). “I lived in [USDA] Zone 9A in Jacksonville, Florida, when I first nominated Magnolia ashei for the Freeman Medal,” explains Leslie. Although it wasn’t chosen that year, she was encouraged to resubmit it for 2017. “I was growing it in a shady spot and was always amazed at the huge leaves and incredibly fragrant white flowers,” she continues. “It has the largest leaves and flowers of any North American tree. It is endangered in the wild and difficult to find in nurseries, but it is not hard to grow. I wanted more gardeners in growing zones 6-9 to plant it and enjoy it as a smaller specimen tree.” Leslie says that while researching M. ashei for the Freeman Medal, she learned that University of Florida’s botanists have been studying the ash magnolia to understand why it has become so rare in the wild. “They were thrilled that it would get the publicity from the Freeman Medal,” Leslie says.

The Montine McDaniel Freeman Medal GCA Plant of the Year was established to highlight underutilized, but worthy North American native plants. This year the winner will be an herbaceous perennial. Whatever native herbaceous perennial inspires you, please consider nominating it for the 2022 Freeman Medal winner. Nominations are due by December 1, 2021. For answers to questions about Freeman Medal

nominations, head to the Horticulture Committee landing page or reach out to your Hort Committee Zone Rep. Good Luck!

For me, inspiration came from visiting Yew Dell Botanical Gardens outside of Louisville, Kentucky in 2014 and attending the Shirley Meneice Horticulture Conference in 2013 at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington D.C. A club member and I were considering nominating Symphyotrichum oblongifolium ‘Raydon’s Favorite’. I saw a stand of ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ on the grounds of the USNA, and I was convinced. This aromatic aster was a showstopper in full bloom, and I knew then that it could be a Freeman Medal winner. After two submissions ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ won the medal in 2016.

— Caroline Borgman Schutts, Horticulture Committee Vice Chairman Freeman Medal, Glenview Garden Club, Zone VII Magnolia ashei, or ash magnolia, blossom. Photo by Eva Krocher from Wikimedia Commons