Ganna Walska Lotusland is very proud to have been named the first recipient of a brand-new award, the 2003 Horticulture Magazine Award for Program Excellence from the American Association of Botanical Garden and Arboreta (AABGA). Lotusland's Curator of the Living Collection, Virginia Hayes, and Director of Public Programs Connie Buxton represented Lotusland at the awards ceremony held at the AABGA annual conference in Boston on June 29, 2003.

This prestigious award was created to honor a botanical garden or arboretum that exemplifies the highest standards of horticultural practice. The beauty and diversity of Lotusland's collections and its commitment to the most environmentally appropriate gardening practices were reasons cited by the Awards Committee in their presentation. Lotusland's move toward sustainability and conversion to organic methods of plant health management are significant achievements accomplished in the past four years. Donald Rakow, the director of Cornell Plantations and chair of the AABGA Awards Committee, said, "The committee was extremely impressed with both the beauty and diversity of the collections at Loutusland. Your garden is a living example that diverse collections can be maintained without the use of chemical pesticides or fertilizers."