Marie Stern Nicholson (1894-1975), was born in Richmond, Virginia, and married James Joseph Nicholson (1886-1972) of Atlanta, Georgia, in 1921. Nicholson developed a passion for tulips and became an expert in their cultivation. She organized Atlanta's Tulip Study Club in 1938, serving as president of the club from 1938 to 1948. She founded and served as president of the Atlanta Tulip Show Association in 1944 to host and sponsor tulip shows in Atlanta. In 1947 Nicholson helped establish the National Tulip Society of which she served as first president from 1947 to 1951. The society was organized to stimulate interest in the cultivation of tulips and published a quarterly newsletter, Tulip Tidings. In 1951, Nicholson became a key organizer and designer for the first annual Atlanta Tulip Festival in Joel Hurt Memorial Park and Plaza Park, with the planting of over 25,000 tulip bulbs.

Nicholson was a member of both the East Lake Garden Club and the Druid Hills Garden Club, as well as club sponsor for the Clay Hills Garden Club. She was also a life member of the National Council of State Garden Clubs, Inc. Nicholson served frequently as an accredited tulip show judge and helped determine a standard set of judging points in the United States. She also conducted educational lectures for regional garden clubs and wrote numerous articles on tulip cultivation. Nicholson became known internationally as the "Atlanta Tulip Lady" and had two tulips named in her honor, the Marie Nicholson tulip and the Atlanta Tulip Lady tulip. In 1939 Nicholson was awarded the Peachtree Garden Club Annual Medal of Achievement. In 1956 Nicholson was awarded the prestigious silver tulip from the Associated Bulb Growers of Holland for her work in the field of tulips. She was a longtime supporter of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Free Cancer Home and the Atlanta Humane Society for which she served on the board for over 25 years. Nicholson continued to be actively involved in the Atlanta Tulip Festival and tulip shows, and tended her own tulip garden in East Lake neighborhood until her death in 1975.