PRESSROOM Newly-Hatched Great Horned Owlets Are Live on Camera   Live bird cam allows the world to watch as owlets grow and fledge the nest over the coming weeks Austin, TX– In April, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and Cornell Lab of Ornithology collaborated to launch a live bird camera featuring the Center’s beloved great horned owl, Athena, in her nesting site just beyond the entrance to the Center’s gardens. Athena laid two eggs in early March, and both have hatched. Now, the world can watch along live as the two tiny owlets grow and fledge the nest over the coming several ..read more

Diversity in Nature Driving through Austin’s historic, diverse east side neighborhood, I scanned the houses on the left and right. I spotted the house I was looking for right away. With a dark blue exterior and a front garden in full bloom, it was like nothing else on the block. There were towering standing cypress (Ipomopsis rubra), lanceleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata), spires of mealy blue sage (Salvia farinacea) and other plants native to Texas that shone in the early evening light. I knew I was at the right house before I looked at the address.  Andrew Ong and Jared Goza, als ..read more

PRESSROOM 2024 Wildflower Forecast Rock rose (Pavonia lasiopetala) Austin, TX– Experts at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center are predicting the 2024 wildflower season to be a banner year of blooms. “On a scale from one to 10, this year looks like it could be an eight, for bluebonnets in particular, if not even better,” says Andrea DeLong-Amaya, the Center’s Director of Horticulture. “This fall and winter we’ve enjoyed adequate rainfall that’s been well-spaced, which is really key to wildflower development.” In addition, DeLong-Amaya says the 2023 drought will likely boost this year’s ..read more

The Draw of Nature I’ve worked at the Wildflower Center since 2005 and over the last year, I’ve looked forward to coming in on Wednesday mornings especially. Often, I see a certain group gathered either in the Café or around our display of seasonal plant specimens, sketching and sharing drawings. Over time, I have become their unofficial plant tutor and staff liaison. They show me their work. “Spiderwort?” I ask. “It is!” someone answers. “Is this one firewheel? Is this the stamen?” A chorus of delight and “yeses” erupts. And on we go. Part of the reason this is so fun is because many member ..read more

PRESSROOM Wildflower Center Launches Fortlandia Exhibition PHOTO Bill J. Boyd Austin, TX– The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s celebrated Fortlandia exhibition opens on October 7 and continues through February 4, 2024. The family-friendly, hands-on exhibition, began in 2018, inspires people of all ages to interact with the natural world in innovative and powerful ways. Each unique fort is designed to engage the senses and create a meaningful and memorable experience for guests. The group of nine forts and their designers are: Bloom Boxes Coxist Studio Bluebonnet Bend Point B Des ..read more

PRESSROOM International Augmented Reality Exhibition Comes to the Wildflower Center Coming to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in March 2023, Seeing the Invisible is the most ambitious and expansive exhibition to date of contemporary artworks created with augmented reality (AR) technology launched at 22 botanical gardens across six countries including Greece, Singapore, South Africa, and the United States. The exhibition features works by more than a dozen international artists such as Ai Weiwei, Refik Anadol, El Anatsui, Isaac Julien CBE RA, and Mohammed Kazem, among others — includ ..read more

A Place and a Promise Wildflowers — those colorful, rough-and-tumble bouquets dotted across meadows, fields and roadsides by people and Mother Nature — make excellent ambassadors. Their romantic beauty draws people into an appreciation for other native plants, perhaps even for the pricklier or less colorful ones. Lady Bird Johnson knew this well. When she co-founded the National Wildflower Research Center — later renamed the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center — she savvily branded the wildflower as the friendly face of her organization. “Wildflowers got you in the door,” explains her y ..read more

Free as a Bird When the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center’s rehabilitation team from just outside Dallas was preparing to set free 11 rehabilitated Mississippi kite birds, they decided the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s sprawling grounds of grasslands and adjacent woods was the best option – as it’s the preferred habitat for the kites. “We are always looking for safe release sites to make sure our patients have the best chance possible once they return to the wild,” said Hailey LeBaron, BPRC raptor rehabilitation manager. “It is important that we release them in areas where migrating Mi ..read more

PRESSROOM Field of Light Announces Discounts for Students and Teachers The Field of Light display at Sensorio in Paso Robles. (Laura Dickinson) AUSTIN, TX (September 22, 2022) – Field of Light tickets go on sale to the general public today for all dates November through December 30, 2022 and will include discounted tickets for students and teachers with valid school IDs the first Thursday and Sunday of the month, starting in October. Artist Bruce Munro’s illuminating exhibition opened its doors on September 9 with a glowing response from the community. Tickets through December are availab ..read more

The Underworld of Aquatic Arteries Cave biologists Drew Thompson and Colin Strickland survey a newly discovered cave 60 feet underground. PHOTO Drew Thompson Most of us cannot begin to comprehend the fascinating world of hidden caves that lies beneath our city streets. It’s a complex network of tubes, streams and underground lakes created by the persistence of water dissolving soluble limestone and then redepositing the calcium carbonate along its path to our aquifer. A strip of the Edwards Plateau limestone stretches through western Travis County, giving us a prime cave-producing region ..read more