Carol Reese

Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Nov. 11 in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center. Carol Reese, a nationally known speaker and retired horticulture specialist, will be guest speaker.


NACOGDOCHES, Texas — Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Nov. 11 in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center.

Carol Reese, a nationally known speaker and retired horticulture specialist with the University of Tennessee’s West Tennessee Research and Education Center, will present “Native Plants: Facts and Fallacies.”

Reese received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in horticulture from Mississippi State University. While there, she taught classes in plant materials and co-taught landscape design for nonmajors. She has written numerous articles for garden magazines, as Q&A columnist for Horticulture Magazine, and wrote a weekly gardening and nature column for the Jackson Sun for two decades.

Reese attributes her love of horticulture to being raised on a farm by generations of plant enthusiasts, including a grandfather who dynamited his garden spot each spring to “break up his hardpan.” She says her personal appreciation of natural lore is at least partially a result of her near-daily treks through the wild areas near her Tennessee home with her motley collection of dogs.

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, visit sfasu.edu/sfagardens, call (936) 468-4129, or email sfagardens@sfasu.edu.