Preservation News - Winter 2018

Garden Conservancy preservation staff recently visited Peckerwood Garden in Hempstead, TX, to perform annual conservation easement monitoring. The visit included a tour to inspect the beds and plantings and observe the general condition of the garden.

Thanks to newly installed fencing, the garden is no longer receiving nightly visits from the wild pigs common in the region.  After last year's visit, preservation staff reported that these uninvited guests were wreaking havoc—uprooting and damaging plants and gouging out areas of turf and soil—which made deer browsing pale in comparison!

The garden has also resolved recent irrigation problems with the installation of a new pump that will serve the garden’s nursery and greenhouses.

Preservation staff met with Peckerwood’s director of horticulture, Adam Black, for an update on scientific and educational activities at the garden. Adam reported good progress on the inventorying of the garden’s horticultural collection, which is being entered into a database with geo-location capabilities. 

Adam also collaborates with scientists at universities and arboreta around the country, providing plant material from the garden’s rare collections for use in molecular research, germplasm preservation, and a teaching garden.

This fall, Adam will give a presentation on saving species from the adverse effects of climate change at the Sustainable Landscape Conference at Mercer Botanic Gardens. 2018 educational offerings at Peckerwood Garden include a presentation by Phil Douglas, curator of woody plants at the Chicago Botanic Garden, and a talk
by Mark Weathington, director of the
JC Raulston Arboretum. 

Peckerwood Garden is open to the public throughout the year. Visit peckerwoodgarden.org for information on guided tours and their 2018 calendar of events, which includes participation in the Garden Conservancy Open Days program on April 28.

Learn more about Garden Conservancy conservation easements, an important part of our preseravation work.

Photos: (top) Cycad plant; (bottom) Peckerwood volunteer Craig Jackson who, in addition to working in the garden, also designed and created the plant database