Event: A free class on how to garden to combat global warming and a new series of classes for the public about making sustainable landscape choices are among the 16 Go Native U options this spring from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and Texas Union Informal Classes at The University of Texas at Austin.
When: The free Gardeners and Global Warming class will be offered to individuals with Resident status on Saturday, Jan. 10, from 10 a.m. to noon, or from 2 to 4 p.m. The initial spring offering of the five Sustainable Landscapes classes on improving landscape characteristics will occur Tuesdays in March from 6 to 8 p.m.
Where: All classes held at the university’s Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, 4801 La Crosse Ave., 78739.
Background: The Wildflower Center has teamed up with the National Wildlife Federation to provide a free class to individuals who are 65 or older and others with Resident status about making changes in the garden, at home and in communities to combat global warming. Resident status categories are listed online. The five sustainability classes will be taught by Heather Venhaus, the Wildflower Center’s environmental designer and the project leader helping to craft voluntary national guidelines for green landscapes (called the Sustainable Sites Initiative). The classes will cover ways to improve the management of soil, water, plants and materials on a landscape to improve sustainability. Attendees of all five classes will receive a certificate of merit in sustainable landscaping. The classes complement a popular series the Wildflower Center provides twice in the spring on native plant gardening. One hundred thirty-eight area residents have completed all six classes in that series since its inception in 2007. Register for the center’s spring classes and learn more.
