Competition for scarce water supplies. Global climate change. Chemical pollution and invasive species. Finding solutions to these unprecedented challenges is the work of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the nation’s leading voice for native plants, natural landscapes and ecological health.

The Wildflower Center in southwest Austin studies successful ways to use native plants to protect the environment and restore damaged lands. By demonstrating and promoting the use of native plants and sustainable design (90,000 visitors a year visit the Center’s unique gardens) the Wildflower Center also helps educate and inspire people all over the world to conserve the native landscapes around them.

Did you know?

• The Wildflower Center is a globally renowned native plant garden and holds the finest collection of Texas plant species.
• The Native Plants Information Network created and maintained by the Wildflower Center is the nation’s prime online source of native plant information and images.
• Wildflower Center scientists are conducting innovative, relevant research on the ways native plants can impact climate change, save water and energy resources, and protect ecological diversity.
• The Wildflower Center’s education programs, including certification courses in native plant gardening, a celebrated curriculum, teacher training and the very popular family Nature Nights, reach more than 10,000 children and adults annually.
• The center’s landscape restoration projects at such critical places as the San Antonio Mission Trail, Blue Hole, the Johnson Space Center and the Mueller Redevelopment are demonstrating that degraded and damaged land can be transformed into ecological showplaces.
• As a participant in the Millennium Seed Bank, center volunteers and staff collect thousands of seeds statewide to ensure their survival.

Our Volunteers Make it Happen

The Wildflower Center could not exist without the support of our volunteers. These generous supporters donate thousands of hours a year serving the mission of the center. Every day volunteers are tending the gardens, assisting researchers, or communicating with members.

• Garden Volunteer Assist with planting, weeding, mulching, watering, pruning and propagation.
• Speaker’s Bureau Volunteer Help us get the message about native plants out to the community. As people become more aware of the environment, they want to learn about ways to make improvements. Native plants are part of the solution. We have training sessions so that you can help us get the word out.
• Youth and Family Program Volunteer Help develop curriculum for our children’s programs, assist us in preparing educational materials, man discovery carts or volunteer in the Little House.
• Gift Store Volunteer Volunteers assist customers, unpack and stock merchandise and work the cash register.
• Festival and Special Projects Volunteer Consider volunteering at one of our festivals or seasonal seminars.
• Docent Answer questions in the Visitors Gallery, give tours, speak in our communities, work with children’s groups and serve as the Center’s ambassadors to visitors from all over the world.

For more information about volunteer opportunities, call Carrie McDonald at 512-232-0102 or vist www.wildflower.org/volunteer/

— Hawk Mendenhall