The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is located at 4801 La Crosse Avenue in Austin, Texas, USA.
Lady Bird Johnson is a former first lady of the United States. She and Actress Helen Hayes founded an organization in 1982 to protect and preserve North America’s native plants and natural landscapes. The goal of Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is to introduce people to the beauty and diversity of wildflowers and other native plants. The Wildflower Center exists to help preserve and restore the beauty and the biological richness of North America’s natural landscapes and native flora. The Center is one of the country’s most credible research institutions for native plants.
Hours of Operation
Tuesday - Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, noon to 5:30 p.m.
Open every day in April, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Visitors Gallery, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Sunday noon to 4:00 p.m.
Store, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Sunday, noon to 4:00 p.m.
Café, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Sunday, noon to 4:00 p.m.
Closed Mondays and New Year’s Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Open Memorial & Labor Days.
Admission Rates
Adults $7
Seniors, 60 years and older and Students 13 years and older $6
Children 5-12 years $3
Free to members and children 4 years and under
Native Gardens
There are 16 unique gardens designed to inspire, to educate and to demonstrate the beauty of native plants.
Theme Gardens
These are an extensive exhibit of Texas natural areas. There are 23 beds demonstrating a few of the infinite varieties, uses and adaptations of plants native to Texas. There are gardens typical of different regions, gardens dedicated to the botanists who chronicled Texas plants, gardens demonstrating techniques for attracting butterflies and hummingbirds, gardens using water and rock features and protecting plants from voracious deer.
Ann and O.J. Weber Butterfly Garden
This garden demonstrates the codependent relationship of plants and insects and the critical role of pollinators in sustaining biodiversity. Benches, walking paths and shaded areas allow visitors opportunities to observe the activities of butterflies and other pollinators.
South Meadow
This is a garden seeded with wildflowers native to Central Texas. During the spring seas it is a rainbow of color. The aqueduct that runs along and above the promenade is covered with Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia.
Little House Courtyard
This garden is designed for young children two to six years of age and encourages outdoor exploration. The garden consists of interesting native plants that help children learn about shapes, smells, textures and colors. The courtyard features a wikiup (a framed hut used by nomadic Native Americans), a shaded arbor, tree stump stools and large pots that house plastic insets and lizards.
Erma Lowe Hill Country Stream
There are benches situated near the Erma Lowe Hill Country Stream where you can sit and listen to the musical trickle of the water as it flows over the rocks.
Trails are:
• Savanna Meadow Trails: ½ mile of grassland graced with scattered trees and shrubs, through a wildflower meadow, a side trip takes you to a cave where soluble limestone slowly erodes creating the cave, you cannot enter the cave.
• The Woodland Trail: ¼ mile connects to the Savanna Meadow Trail, is lined with common Hill Country woodland species, including pecans, elms and three species of oak, post oak, red oak and live oak.
• The Hill Country Trails: Provides another look at the Edwards Uplift area west of the Balcones Fault
• The John Barr Trail, ¼ mile, trees, shrubs and cacti of the Texas Hill Country. Spring season brings blooming prickly pear as well as bluebonnets, damanita, coreopsis, pavonia and bitterweed. Winter season brings colorful pencil cactus.
• Restoration Research Trail: 1 mile, provides a look at the landscape restoration research, learn how fire, grazing and mowing affect the growth of native grasses, see green roof research plot, various mini-roof planted with native species, view tests of how much fertilizer applied to lawns drains into the aquifer.
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is now a part of the University of Texas at Austin. It is known as one of North America’s most beautiful gardens having more than 70,000 visitors each year. It consists of 297 acres of Texas Hill Country and celebrates the legacy of Lady Bird Johnson and the native plants of Texas. It is not only a beautiful destination but also a place where you can find good food, great shopping and knowledgeable guides and located in the lively and scenic Austin, Texas, USA, which is the live music capital of the world.
The store features:
• Art
• Books
• Apparel
• Local food products
• Children’s toys and an array of gifts with a nature them
The Café is a restaurant with a view, indoors or outside on the patio, for coffee, ice cream or lunch. Box lunches and a catering menu are also available. They accommodate large group lunches.
Tours
A guided tour for groups of at least 15 are includes:
• A tour adaptable to the group’s special interest such as gardening, architecture or ecology
• Guided walking tours of about a quarter mile or self-guided hiking on longer trails
• Guided tour includes history and mission of the Wildflower Center, discussion of Lady Bird Johnson’s legacy, importance of native plants, the Center’s architecture, rainwater collection system and natural history of the Central Texas Hill Country while visiting the formal gardens and natural areas
• Tour generally takes 45-60 minutes
You can plan on a total visit time of 1 ½ hours to allow for touring, loading and unloading, shopping and snack. Tours occur between 9:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and between noon and 3:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Self-guided Tours
These visits are perfect for very large groups or those with time issues. Group rates are available with advance reservations for a minimum group of 20.
Weddings, Meetings, Special Events and Celebrations at the Wildflower Center
• The Wildflower Center can accommodate just about any kind of wedding theme from formal and traditional to informal but elegant.
• The Wildflower Center can assist with a variety of spaces for meetings, trainings, retreats and dinners
• Birthdays, anniversaries, reunions and graduation ceremonies at the Wildflower Center can be especially memorable
Their rental rates vary. For more information contact Facility Sales Manager at 512-232-0164.
Source: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
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© 2007 Connie Limon All Rights Reserved
Written by: Connie Limon. For more vacation ideas visit http://smalldogs2.com/VacationIdeas For a variety of FREE reprint articles and special topic articles rarely found elsewhere visit Camelot Articles at http://www.camelotarticles.com
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