Awards

This past month the Scott Arboretum and staff have been recognized for their efforts in the horticulture community. The Scott Arboretum received the 2008 Community Greening Award presented by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful program. This award recognizes the Scott Arboretum for outstanding public plantings…improving the quality of life through horticulture.

Walt Fisher, PHS Community Greening Award Judge, noted “To call it an Arboretum’ suggests more limited design and plantings than is presented by the huge variety of plants, shrubs, trees, and landscaping features. An informative and highly-professional website describes the many features of the arboretum and the educational opportunities that are available. A personal visit is the only way to appreciate and enjoy the vastness and quality of this local gem.”

Claire Sawyers, Director of the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College, received the 2008 Zone V Horticulture Commendation presented by the Garden Club of America. This commendation is given to individuals for their “dedication and excellence in furthering the education and enjoyment of people everywhere in the growing and displaying of plants.”

Local plantsmen, Charles Cresson noted “Claire has built upon the work of her noted predecessors, leading the institution to new heights, unimagined at the time of her hiring. With its remarkable plant collections, educational programs, and membership activities, the Scott Arboretum must surely have become the premier campus arboretum in the nation if not the world.”

Alice Hamilton Farley, President of Wissahickon Garden Club and landscape architect, had this to say about Sawyers achievements. “Claire has led the Scott Arboretum into a new, revitalized and invigorated era. Just as significantly she has made every effort to fulfill the wishes of this benefactor, Arthur Hoyt Scott, to create a place where the average homeowner and beginning gardener can go and see a place of beauty, yes, but more, come away with ideas that they can bring to their own gardens.”