Folsom Honored By Horticultural Society

James P. Folsom, the Telleen/Jorgensen director of the Botanical Gardens at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, has been named this year’s recipient of the American Horticultural Society’s Liberty Hyde Bailey Award, which is considered the organization’s highest honor.
The award is presented to an individual who has made significant lifetime contributions to at least three of the following horticultural fields, including teaching, research, communications, plant exploration, administration, art, business and leadership.
The accolade also is one of the Great American Gardeners Awards the AHS presents annually to individuals, organizations and businesses that represent the best in American gardening. Each of the recipients has contributed significantly to fields such as scientific research, garden communication, landscape design, youth gardening and conservation.
Over his 35-year career at the helm of the Botanical division of the Huntington, Folsom has contributed to the gardens’ unprecedented growth. His accomplishments include helping create the largest Chinese Garden in the country, expanding the Japanese Garden, adding a tropical conservatory and Children’s Garden, acquiring the Whitelock cycad collection, and formalizing research and conservation programs.
Ensuring that new audiences are engaged and inspired by the world of plants has been a key focus for Folsom. His passion for plants is apparent in his spearheading of educational and interactive exhibits about them, as well as his teaching of the popular series, “Plant Science for Gardeners and Citizen Scientists.”
A previous winner of the AHS’s Professional Award and dozens of other major industry honors, Folsom writes, lectures and teaches about a wide range of plant subjects. His latest projects are a free eBook, “A Botanical Reader,” available through Apple Books, and his website, “Botany in Context.”
Folsom holds a bachelor’s degree in botany from Auburn University, a master’s degree in biology from Vanderbilt University and a doctorate in research botany from the University of Texas at Austin. He joined the Huntington staff in 1984, serving as assistant curator before becoming director in 1987. As director of the Huntington’s gardens, he oversees more than a dozen thematic gardens covering 120 acres of the 207-acre grounds. He serves as visionary and project head for the development of new gardens and botanical facilities and restoration of historic gardens and maintenance. Much of his effort at the Huntington has been to educational programs that increase public interest and understanding of the science, culture and history of plants and gardens.
Some of the most notable achievements under Folsom’s leadership have been the design and construction of a botanical research and education facility in 2001, the Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science in 2003, the Helen and Peter Bing Children’s Garden in 2004, the Chinese garden, Liu Fang Yuan, or the Garden of Flowing Fragrance in 2008 and the Huntington Ranch in 2010, as well as the renovation and expansion of the Japanese Garden in 2012.
He also has added invaluable botanical collections to the Huntington, including, most recently, more than 5,000 orchids donated by the family of the late collector and grower S. Robert Weltz that will help the Huntington become a center for orchid conservation. The late Frances L. Brody, a champion of the Huntington’s gardens since the 1990s, worked closely with Folsom, playing a critical role in launching the Chinese garden’s fundraising effort and eventually naming the Huntington a major beneficiary of her estate, resulting in a gift of more than $100 million to the institution in 2010.
“I’m completely surprised and honored to have been selected for the Liberty Hyde Bailey Award,” Folsom said. “If it were not for the Huntington and the huge community of people who support the Gardens, this would never have materialized. My gratitude goes to the many people who make the Gardens possible, and look forward to the moment we can, once again, open the doors to guests.”
The AHS will honor Folsom and other award recipients on Thursday, June 18, during the Great American Gardeners Awards Ceremony and Banquet, held at the Society’s River Farm headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.
Founded in 1922, the American Horticultural Society is a nonprofit organization committed to modeling, educating about, and advocating for earth-friendly and sustainable gardening practices. The organization’s mission is to share with all Americans the critical role of plants, gardens and green spaces in creating healthy, livable communities and a sustainable planet. Since 1973, AHS has been headquartered at River Farm, part of George Washington’s original land holdings on a 25-acre site composed of gardens, meadows and woodlands along the Potomac River in the Mount Vernon section of Fairfax County. To learn more, visit ahsgardening.org.