Ernesta Drinker Ballard

Ernesta Drinker Ballard (May 13, 1920 – August 11, 2005) was an American horticulturalist and feminist. Among the founders of the National Organization for Women, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, and Women's Way, Ballard was the executive director of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society from 1963 to 1981, credited by The New York Times with bringing its annual Philadelphia Flower Show to "international prominence."

Life Ernesta Drinker was born in 1920 to Henry Drinker, a well-known lawyer, and Sophie Hutchinson Drinker. She grew up in Merion, Pennsylvania.

In 1964, Ballard closed Valley Gardens to become the director of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. At the time, the Philadelphia Flower Show was a separate organization, and was in such a poor state of organization that the group who ran it had decided to cancel the show for two years. Fearing that the public would lose interest in the show if it was dormant for that long, Ballard persuaded the Horticultural Society's board to stage the show in 1965; in 1968, the society became the show's official producer. As the show's chief organizer, Ballard expanded the annual event and made it “much more participatory” and educational in nature. Under Ballard's leadership, which lasted until 1980, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society became a thriving organization, and the Philadelphia Flower Show grew to become one of the largest indoor flower shows in the United States.

Ultimately, Ballard felt that the best legacy she could leave was to empower her own daughters to help to empower other women. One of her three daughters was the prominent Philadelphia women's rights and employment rights attorney, Alice W. Ballard (1948–2025).

Ernesta Drinker Ballard Book Prize Women's Way annually awards the Ernesta Drinker Ballard Book Prize to a recently published female author who has helped make headway in the dialogue about women's rights through her work. The 2012 winner was Rebecca Traister for her book Big Girls Don’t Cry.