Anna Galusha Aquino, The Boxwood Garden Club: Anna designed and implemented The Boxwood Garden Club’s predominantly native plant garden at the Peter Paul Development Center. Anna recently became co-chair of a Richmond 4 club group to help establish Richmond as a “Bee City USA.” Anna plays an active role in both Capital Trees and the James River Invasive Plant Task Force.
Emily Barbee, The Garden Club of Gloucester and Mathews: Emily is a registered rosarian and has an extensive rose collection of approximately 140 shrubs. Emily has shared her knowledge of roses with her club and the GCV. She helps with the Gloucester Daffodil Show and helped design and install the grounds around the new Gloucester Mathews Humane Society.
Katherine Campbell, The Princess Anne Garden Club: Katherine has shared her life-long love and knowledge of flowers with her community for many decades. She owns a cut-flower farm where she grows at least 30 annual varieties and has over 250 peonies. She shares information on growing cut flowers, including tips on over-wintering dahlias and hardy annuals in the ground. She gives lectures on horticulture to organizations in her community and beyond.
Jane Cowles, The Boxwood Garden Club: Jane was an early member of the group that started Capital Trees in Richmond and served on their board for over 10 years. She is an avid rose grower and worked in the rose garden at the Children’s Hospital on Brook Road. She now grows dahlias and shares her knowledge about them with the community.
Beth DeBergh, The Garden Club of Warren County: Beth is a former chairman of the GCV Horticulture Committee. She has shared her own plants with the Shenandoah River State Park, where she also worked to create a pollinator meadow. Her farm has been designated an Audubon at Home Wildlife Sanctuary. She received a Certificate of Achievement from the Nature Conservancy in 2021. Beth is a GCV artistic judge and exhibits her flowers in many flower shows. She has participated with the Virginia Cooperative Extension’s Boxwood Blight Task Force, providing leadership in safeguarding and protecting historical gardens and landscape plantings.
Susan Hodges, The Garden Study Club of Martinsville: Susan shares her horticultural knowledge with others in her club and community. She created a guide to help with horticulture exhibition and selection. Susan has worked to plant GCV Daffodil test collections in highly visible locations in Martinsville, beautifying the community. She worked tirelessly with her club’s project, the Paw Path Pollinator Garden, which won the Bessie Carter Conservation Award in 2018. Susan’s love of horticulture has been a benefit to the community and beyond.
Tricia Kincheloe, The Garden Club of Fairfax: Tricia mentors members of her club on growing and showing lilies and she shows lilies on the state and national level. She has presented programs on lilies in Virginia, Maryland and DC and is a regular guest speaker for the North American Lily Society judging schools. She is a recipient of the North American Lily Society Regional Service Medal in 2021. She is a leader, presenter, expert classifier, judge, advisor and mentor. She has made a huge impact in these roles in her community and beyond.
Mary Stickley-Godinez, The Spotswood Garden Club: Mary has worked in the garden at the Pleasant View Day Support Services, serving people with disabilities; at a roundabout project with the City Public Works Department; assisted in planting Green Arrow Daffodils at the Harrisonburg/Rockingham Historical Society; and, assisted with the landscaping at the Lacey Spring Elementary School. She chaired the Rockingham County Fair Horticulture Exhibit Section. She was the manager of the garden and grounds at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, VA. She was the producer of a radio talk show about plants for several years. Mary has established the only grafting of trees and tree budding business for orchards and nurseries on the East Coast.
