March 31st, 2010 
Dr. Douglas Tallamy lecture: Bringing Nature Home 
Social 6:30 pm; Lecture 7-8 pm; Panel discussion 8-8:30

Event Co-hosted by: Houston Audubon, Center for the Study of Environment and Society of Rice University, Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum of Rice University, Outdoor Nature Club, David and Linda Knowles, Don Verser, Katy Prairie Conservancy, Native Plant Society of Texas-Houston, Nature Discovery Center and the Shell Center for Sustainability.

October 16, 2009
Wildflower Planting 2009. Daisy Troopers (from the West University Elementry School) helped with the planting.

November 12, 2008
Wildflower Planting 2008 

February 9, 2007 
Arbor Day Celebration 
Houston Federation of Garden Clubs

The Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum will be hosting an Arbor Day Celebration in conjunction with the Houston Federation of Garden Clubs.

October 27, 2006  
Wildflower Planting!  
Refreshments provided

The Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum will be hosting a wildflower planting for Rice students and community members at 3PM, west of Wiess Commons.  This event will take place during RSVP’s Environmental Awareness Week.

February 10, 2006 
Arbor Day Celebration 
Houston Federation of Garden Clubs

The Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum will be hosting an Arbor Day Celebration in conjunction with the Houston Federation of Garden Clubs. 

February 19, 2005 
Whack the Hedges 
9:00 am in the parking lot along Greenbriar 
Pizza provided for lunch

Students, faculty and staff are invited to help the Lowrey Arboretum prune and rejuvenate the outer hedges.  We will also plant a new species of hedge as we experiment with replacing the aging ligustrums along our perimeter.

February 11, 2005 
Arbor Day Celebration 
Houston Federation of Garden Clubs 
1:00 by the Botany Garden (Anderson Biological Laboratories Room 125 in case of rain)

Arboretum Committee member Charles Tapley detailed the Arboretum’s latest projects and Lisa Mann, a graduate student in Committee member Paul Harcombe’s lab, gave a tour of the botany garden.  The Federation donated a two-winged silverbell to the Arboretum, which has been planted by Anderson Bio Labs around the corner from the botany garden.

The two-winged silverbell, donated to the Arboretum by the Houston Federation of Garden Clubs on Arbor Day were planted. 

January 27, 2005 
Sadie Gwin Blackburn Environmental Seminar 
9:30 AM in the Imax Theatre, Museum of  Natural Science, Houston 
Open to the public- free admission

Rescuing Heirloom Plants

Kent Whealy, who was awarded a MacArthur  Fellowship for his efforts to conserve genetic resources and is the Director of Seed Savers Exchange, will be the keynote speaker at the seminar organized by the River Oaks Garden Club. From 1993 through 1997, Seed Savers organized and funded 12 plant collecting expeditions in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, for which Kent recently received the prestigious Vavilov Medal.

 Today SSE is a unique network of 8000 gardens who are working together to maintain and distribute thousands of heirloom  vegetable and fruit varieties. Since 1975, SSE’s members have distributed an estimated one million samples of rare seeds( including flowers ), many on the verge of distinction.  SSE’s genetic preservation projects have provided the model for similar projects and organizations in more than 30 countries.

Kent Whealy’s lecture will describe the history and the growth of Seed Savers, and the ongoing efforts to build the heirloom seed movement. Slides will be shown from photos taken at Heritage Farm ,SSE’s headquarters near Decorah, Iowa, where several genetic preservation projects have been developed to permanently maintain and display endangered food crops.  SSE’s 170 acres , open to the public, is a living museum of historic varieties, including several acres of organic Preservation Gardens where seeds of about 2500 rare vegetables (out of 24,000 total varieties) are multiplied annually.  Its historic orchard  contains 700 19th century apples, 200 hardy grapes and herds of extremely rare Ancient White Park cattle.

For more information, see  http://www.seedsavers.org or contact Gail Payne of the River Oaks Garden Club at  gspayne@swbell.net.

November 13, 2004 
Lynn R. Lowrey:  A Legacy of Botanizing in Texas and Mexico 
A Peckerwood Garden Conservation Foundation Symposium 
In collaboration with The Garden Conservancy and The Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum of Rice University 
Saturday, November 13, 2004 9:00 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.

Program Speakers

MIKE SHOUP, rosarian, garden writer and owner of The Antique Rose Emporium located in Independence, will open the program with an introduction to Lynn and his far-reaching influence in Texas.

MARY ANNE PICKENS, historian and garden writer, will share her knowledge of Lynn’s life and work exploring and promoting understanding of the native environments of Texas and Mexico.

SCOOTER CHEATHAM, editor of Useful Wild Plants of Texas, plant explorer and writer, will discuss Lynn’s cultural impact on Texas and his work.

CARL SCHOENFELD, plant explorer and owner of Yucca Do Nursery in Hempstead, will explore the significant impact of Lynn’s methodology and influence on Peckerwood Garden, our mission and collections.

DR. DAVID CREECH, plant explorer and director of the Stephen F. Austin-Mast Arboretum in Nacogdoches, will offer a summarizing personal perspective of Lynn and his influence on his friends and colleagues.

This program is made possible by the generous support of our underwriters: 

Sissy and Denny Kempner in honor of James David GARDENS, Austin, Texas