Dr. David Creech pictured in the Yellow Mountains of Eastern China in the southern part of the Anhui Province.

Dr. David Creech, SFA Gardens director and professor emeritus of agriculture, will be guest speaker for Stephen F. Austin State University SFA Gardens’ monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series, slated for 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center. Creech is pictured in the Yellow Mountains of Eastern China in the southern part of the Anhui Province.


NACOGDOCHES, Texas — Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, located at 2900 Raguet St.

Dr. David Creech, SFA Gardens director and professor emeritus of agriculture, will present, “SFA Gardens: Where Good Ideas Meet Insurmountable Obstacles.”

Creech has been at SFA since September 1978. He received his bachelor’s degree in horticulture from Texas A&M University in 1970, a master’s degree in horticulture from Colorado State University in 1972, and returned to TAMU to receive his doctoral degree in 1978. After a long career in teaching, Creech retired in 2007. He returned to direct SFA Gardens in a part-time position.  

Creech’s research interests include fruit and vegetable, ornamental evaluation, endangered plants, salinity studies, woody tree and shrub evaluation, and investigating the potential of kiwifruit as a specialty crop for Texas. He also has authored numerous scholarly and trade articles and lectures widely.

Since 1981, Creech has accumulated a long list of international work in Pakistan, Guatemala, Mexico, Nepal, Israel and China. In the last 21 years, he has undertaken over 25 consultancies in China, working with the Blueberry Improvement Program and Taxodium Improvement Program at the Nanjing Botanical Garden, as well as connecting with the new plants arena in the China nursery and landscape industry. He is an advocate of increasing forest cover and smart use of land and plant resources.  

Creech has held positions within many organizations, including as president of the Native Plant Society of Texas and president of the Southern Region American Society of Horticulture Science. He is the current president of the Texas Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta and of the International Plant Propagation Society Southern Region.

The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month and includes a rare-plant raffle after the program. The lecture is free and open to the public, but donations to the Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series fund are always appreciated.

Parking is available at the PNPC and Raguet Elementary School, located at 2428 Raguet St.

For more information, call (936) 468-4129, or email sfagardens@sfasu.edu.