Betty Scholtz, director emeritus of Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, NY

{This article appeared in September 1980 in South African Garden & Home; reproduced with kind permission. Written by Pepe Sofianos; photographs by Don Watson.}

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Children's Garden 1980

‘Children spend their afternoons in the Children's Garden, tending to their own vegetable patches.’ Photographer: Don Watson, South African Garden & Home

Elizabeth Scholtz, known affectionately by her colleagues as Betty, is a real live wire - her quest for knowledge in the field of botany and related fields has never palled. She got her BSc degree in botany and zoology at Witwatersrand University and thereupon proceeded to add more honours to her list. She has a certificate in medical technology and collaborated on several papers of a medical nature while she was in charge of the laboratory at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town.

Her talents and thirst for advancement led her to the United States of America, where she served a fellowship in hematology at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

Now you may think that she must be very difficult to talk to, being such an intellectual and cultured person. On the contrary, she is a true South African, in that she has a marvellous casual approach to people. >>