Scott Medal & Award Presentation

Margaret Roach, award-winning author and podcaster, will receive the 2024 Scott Garden and Horticulture Medal and Award of $20,000.

 This event is free for Scott Associates members and special guests, but advance registration is required due to space limitations. Walk-ins are not permitted. If space allows, other attendees may purchase an advance ticket for $40, which includes a one-year Individual level membership to the Associates of the Scott Arboretum. A free virtual viewing option is available. Advance registration is required. 

In-person registration is now closed, virtual registration is still open. Virtual Registration

Margaret Roach – 2024 Award Recipient

Margaret Roach began her career in horticulture 35 years ago as garden editor at Newsday. Her columns attracted the attention of Martha Stewart, who hired her as the first garden editor of Martha Stewart Living magazine. As her role in the company expanded, she became Executive Vice President/Editorial Director of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s magazines, books, and internet. In 2008, Margaret walked away from her corporate publishing career to devote herself to gardening. With her 2.3-acre garden in rural New York State, her love of technology, and her unique brand of “horticultural how-to and woo-woo,” she has become an inspiring and influential voice in the world of horticulture. Marco Polo Stufano, Director of Horticulture Emeritus at Wave Hill, describes her as “one of the country’s most followed and respected communicators of information dealing both with the art and science of gardening and concerns facing the natural world.”

Margaret inspires a vast audience through a remarkable mix of media. Her website awaytogarden.com, reflects her love of plants and has garnered extensive national praise. For 13 years she has hosted an award-winning public radio show and podcast, in which she interviews experts to promote a greater love of gardens and nature. Her column, “In the Garden,” is published weekly throughout each growing season in The New York Times. She teaches a popular online series called “The Virtual Garden Club” with Ken Druse. And, she has authored three books: And I Shall Have Some Peace There (2011), The Backyard Parables (2013), and A Way to Garden (1998, updated in 2019).

To Margaret, gardening is a life practice – a window into larger questions of existence, spirituality, and science. She describes her garden as her constant and ever-inspiring companion. Her unique perspectives resonate deeply with readers across the country, including Eat, Pray, Love author Liz Gilbert, who has called her writing “a blessing.” She is well known for her ability to make complex subjects – such as biodiversity, sustainability, and climate change – more accessible to a wide audience. Yet, her writing is also a go-to resource for seasoned professionals. Darrel Morrison, Professor and Dean Emeritus at the College of Environment and Design at the University of Georgia and recipient of the 2021 Scott Medal, says, “Her writing is genuinely informative; it is also inspiring and entertaining.”

In 2018, Margaret received the George Robert White Medal of Honor from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for her contributions to excellence in horticulture for the public good, and in 2023 was honored by Wave Hill, the public garden in New York City. The Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College proudly awards the 2024 Scott Medal and Award to Margaret Roach.