Redbud in Bloom at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Entrance
I’ve spent the last week in Austin, TX having a wonderful time seeing new plants, new birds, and new ecosystems. My first full day here I was truly blessed to be given a private tour of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center with Kelley, a volunteer at the center and Beautiful Wildlife Garden’s own Meredith O’Reilly. What a joy to tour this beautiful space with such welcoming new friends!
Wildflower Center is a Certified Wildlife Habitat
The whole property at the Wildflower Center is a Certified Wildlife Habitat, and they are devoted to education about how the native plants are intricately connected with the wildlife.
Water conservation aqueduct system and cistern
Water conservation is of utmost importance here in Texas, and the rainwater harvesting system is is a wonder to behold. Aqueducts run along the top of the archway walls and from the rooftops to large cisterns spaced all around the property.
Coral Honeysuckle, a hummingbird favorite
Texas Bluebonnets attract early spring pollinators
Carolina Jessamine, a butterfly magnet for the first butterflies of spring
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center was a marvelous view of spring to this winter-weary Pennsylvania! It was so nice to feel the warmth of the sun on my face and walk among these beautiful blooms. A big huge thank you to Kelley and Meredith for sharing this special place with me!
What native plants are blooming in your early spring wildlife garden?
Carole Brown gardens in Philadelphia, zone 6b, and writes atEcosystem Gardening, teaching you to garden sustainably, conserve natural resources, and create welcoming habitat for wildlife so that you will attract more birds, butterflies, pollinators and other wildlife. Watch for her book, Ecosystem Gardening coming out soon. She is also the Northeast Regional Reporter for the new Birds and Blooms blog, and you can follow @CB4wildlife on twitter.
© 2011 – 2012, Carole Sevilla Brown. All rights reserved. This article is the property of BeautifulWildlifeGarden.com If you are reading this at another site, please report that to us
About Carole Sevilla Brown
nice site, I have noticed in my area of Texas that other wild flowers are taking ourr bluebonnet’s place.
Welcome back Carole! We missed you! So happy to hear you had such a great time and I hope your talk went smashingly! Must have been so nice to be somewhere with plants blooming…we can only dream of blooming redbuds here in New England – we still have 6″ of snow although it’s melting quickly! I have never seen a redbud that tall before…sigh…
Love those Texas bluebonnets – they look as though they are related to lupines so I’m guessing some of the “blue” butterflies use them as host plants too?
Sounds like you had quite the time! I’ve met Kelley via twitter and email, and look forward to someday seeing her in person (Meredith too!). Pretty much we’ve got similar things in bloom down in Florida, my yellow jessamine, tho small did have a flower or two and the coral honeysuckle is nurturing bees and butterflies. I’m jealous of those TX bluebonnets tho.
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Carole,
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center sounds amazing. I think it’s neat that you create a post on a place you visit on a trip. It’s something I always want to do, but have not yet made the time. Trips are so busy and I’m on to other things when I get home.
I hope you were at SXSW meeting TS or Third Tribe folks!
Best,
David
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Carole, You lucky gardener! The Wildlife center is one of my favorite places to visit~I even joined because I wanted to support their work~and I use their native plant info site at least once a day. I came home from a visit there wishing we could figure out a cistern system as beautiful as theirs~Still working on that one.
Claytonia and the cardamines are blooming…I love spring. I am so glad you had a good break from the winter in PA.
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How lucky for you to tour this wonderful place … I often visit this website and if I lived close, would definitely be a regular visitor and register for many of the classes as well. I so enjoyed the virtual tour you have offered – thank you!
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VioletFern: It was a wonderful tour in the company of two passionate wildlife gardeners and native plant advocates. What a lovely way to spend the day!