SFA Gardens lecture series to highlight "Pines, Pawpaws and Pocket Prairies"

NACOGDOCHES, Texas — Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. May 9 in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center.

Greg Grant, award-winning horticulturist, writer, conservationist, bulb farmer and seventh-generation East Texan, will present “Pines, Pawpaws and Pocket Prairies.”

Grant authored the books “In Greg’s Garden: A Pineywoods Perspective on Gardening, Nature, and Family” and “Texas Fruit and Vegetable Gardening,” as well as co-authored “Heirloom Gardening in the South, Texas Home Landscaping, The Southern Heirloom Garden,” and “The Rose Rustlers.” He also writes the popular “In Greg’s Garden” column for Texas Gardener magazine, a weekly garden column in the Tyler Morning Telegraph, and writes a monthly “Greg’s Ramblings” blog. He is the Smith County horticulturist for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Tyler, where he is coordinator of the Smith County Master Gardener volunteer program and director of the Tyler Botanical Garden.

Grant has degrees in floriculture and horticulture, both from Texas A&M University, and attended postgraduate classes at Louisiana State University, North Carolina State University and SFA, where he is currently working on a doctoral degree in forestry. He has previous experience as a horticulturist with SFA Gardens, Mercer Arboretum and San Antonio Botanical Gardens, and as an instructor at SFA and LSU.

Grant has introduced several successful plants to the Southern nursery industry, including dwarf pink Mexican petunia, Gold Star speranza, Laura Bush petunia, John Fanick phlox, Stars and Stripes pentas, Pam’s Pink honeysuckle, Lecompte vitex, Henry and Augusta Duelberg sages, Big Momma and Pam Puryear Turk’s Cap, Peppermint Flare hibiscus, the Marie Daly and Nacogdoches (Grandma’s Yellow) roses.

He was presented the lifetime membership award from the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association, the county agent award from the Turfgrass Producers of Texas, the Superior Service Award by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, the Lynn Lowrey Memorial Award by the Native Plant Society of Texas, and the Lone Star Land Steward Award by Texas Parks and Wildlife. His book “Heirloom Gardening in the South” was a Garden Writers Association Silver Award recipient.

He has traveled extensively to hundreds of botanical gardens throughout the United States and Europe and has given over 2,000 entertaining, story-filled lectures. He is a graduate of the Benz School of Floral Design and a lifetime member of the Native Plant Society of Texas, the Southern Garden History Society and the Texas Bluebird Society. His work has been featured in many magazines and newspapers, including Southern Living, Woman’s Day, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Houston Chronicle, and The San Antonio Express News.

Grant and his wife live in deep East Texas in his grandparents’ old farmhouse, where he tends the Rebel Eloy Emanis Pine Savanna and Bird Sanctuary, a bluebird trail, an heirloom bulb farm, a dozen chickens, two cats and a Jack Russell terrier.

The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is 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 lecture series fund are appreciated.

Parking is available at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St., or Raguet Elementary School, 2708 Raguet St.

For more information, email sfagardens@sfasu.edu.

ABOUT STEPHEN F. AUSTIN STATE UNIVERSITY
Stephen F. Austin State University, the newest member of The University of Texas System, began a century ago as a teachers’ college in Texas’ oldest town, Nacogdoches. Today, it has grown into a regional institution comprising six colleges — business, education, fine arts, forestry and agriculture, liberal and applied arts, and sciences and mathematics. Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, SFA enrolls approximately 11,000 students while providing the academic breadth of a state university with the personalized attention of a private school. The main campus encompasses 421 acres that include 37 academic facilities, nine residence halls, and 68 acres of recreational trails that wind through its six gardens. The university offers more than 80 bachelor’s degrees, more than 40 master’s degrees and four doctoral degrees covering more than 120 areas of study. Learn more at the SFA website.