AUSTIN, Texas – The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is pleased to announce that Texas Discovery Gardens will become one of its new affiliates.

The Wildflower Center actively encourages the preservation and use of native plants through its network. These affiliate relationships help the Wildflower Center broaden its mission to increase the sustainable use and conservation of native wildflowers, plants and landscapes. Affiliate organizations include botanic gardens and arboreta, as well as native plant societies, land conservancies, garden clubs and other organizations that promote the conservation of native flora and subscribe to the Wildflower Center’s mission.

Each affiliate is charged with increasing public awareness about the importance of native plants; promoting their use, conservation and restoration; as well as demonstrating the benefits of native plants and natural communities. The Wildflower Center currently has 15 affiliate organizations.

“Texas Discovery Gardens and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center are like-minded organizations striving to achieve common goals,” said Dr. Damon Waitt, director of the National Plant Network at the Wildflower Center. “We look forward to continuing our effort to develop national support for native plant preservation, conservation and use with our new affiliate.”

Texas Discovery Gardens is one of the oldest botanical institutions in Texas. Built in 1936 as the Hall of Horticulture for Texas’ Centennial Exposition in Fair Park – Dallas, the 7.5-acre campus includes the first public conservatory in the Southwestern United States. The mission of Texas Discovery Gardens is to have a positive impact on the future of Texas by teaching people effective ways to restore, conserve and preserve nature in the urban environment through the use of native and adapted plants that illustrate the interrelationship of butterflies, bugs and botany.