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Family Garden
The Luci Baines Johnson and Ian Turpin Family Garden
The Luci Baines Johnson and Ian Turpin Family Garden at the Wildflower Center will be a regional jewel and a national model. After a ceremonial groundbreaking on May 1, 2013, construction will begin in early summer and the garden will open in 2014.
It will occupy 4.5 acres of woodland and meadow, providing the perfect setting for hands-on, creative play while demonstrating key concepts in biology, botany, ecology, geology, hydrology and more. This garden is designed for interaction with native plants through features like Nature’s Spiral, a mosaic-inlaid limestone wall that illustrates the spiral shapes found in sunflower heads, agaves and Turk’s caps. Giant bird’s nests, the Metamorphosis Maze, a central creek and grotto and many more features will provide fantastic experiences in nature.
A covered pavilion will provide space for group learning and events and the Giant Play Lawn will be a place to run and have fun.
The family garden also will expand our education program with self-guided learning stations that complement the K-6 curriculum on native plants developed at the Center and keyed to the state-mandated Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TAKS).
This whimsical world is the brainchild of landscape architect Gary Smith, an award-winning designer who created Enchanted Woods at Winterthur in Delaware and the Tropical Mosaic Garden in Florida.
The project is being designed and constructed according to the most rigorous guidelines for sustainable landscapes, and has been selected as a pilot by the Sustainable Sites Initiative, which developed a national rating system for "green" landscapes.
Thanks to our donors who made this possible!
