River Oaks Garden Club Donates Gift to Mercer

June 7, 2002, marked a special day for Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens and Precinct 4’s conservation program. In honor of the River Oaks Garden Club’s (ROGC) 75th anniversary, Ms. Thomas Hail, president, and Ms. Zillah Oden, incoming president of ROGC, presented a $15,775 check to Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry Eversole and Mercer director Linda Gay. The ROGC’s Civic Contributions Committee voted Mercer to receive their annual civic contribution award. The committee states "Our Civic Contributions Committee is very impressed with Mercer’s continuing horticultural efforts and we are pleased to participate in this worthy project." The gift includes $10,000 for the expansion and enhancement of Mercer’s Endangered Species Garden and $5,775 for sponsorship of the endangered species program. ROGC’s gift underscores the two-part mission of Mercer’s conservation program: conservation education and applied conservation.

Mercer hosted a reception to honor ROGC’s generosity. Mercer staff and volunteers, members of ROGC, and Mercer Society members were present. Also at the celebration were special conservation guests, Dr. Larry Brown, plant taxonomist of the Spring Branch Science Center and Houston Community College, Ralph Taylor of the Houston Flood Control District and Edith Erfling of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service .

The proposed design for the expansion and enhancement of the Endangered Species Garden was unveiled at the reception by Peter Wakefield of Wakefield Landscape Services. The expansion enlarges the woodland display area and doubles the size of the existing Endangered Species education garden. The renovation also includes a pond with running water, bog garden and replica of a beaver dam to accommodate rare plants requiring moisture and/or shade.

Mercer’s Endangered Species Garden was founded in 1994 with support from Star Enterprises. Additional funds for the proposed expansion and renovation are being sought.

The late Lynn R. Lowery, pioneer of the native plant movement in Texas, inspired Wakefield’s design. Lowery’s native plant landscaping masterpieces live on throughout Texas and include private residential designs in River Oaks and commercial designs throughout Houston. Lowery’s designs for bird and butterfly gardens are promoted by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s "Wildscapes" landscape program. Unique native plants from Lowery’s collections are housed at several botanical gardens including Mercer. One example, a Big-tooth Maple from Lost Maple State Park in Bandera County, is maintained as a memorial to Mercer volunteer, Amy McCarty, in Mercer’s maple collection.

ROGC’s $5,775 sponsorship is directed towards completing the maintenance endowment of the federally endangered Texas Trailing Phlox (see "Plant Conservation a priority at Mercer," Parkscape Spring 2001 and "American Treasures," Parkscape, Spring 2002) at Mercer for the Center for Plant Conservation (CPC). Carol Kobb, as a memorial to Millie Guadino of Conroe, had initiated the sponsorship endowment for this Phlox.

CPC’s National Collection of Endangered Plants is one of the largest living collections of rare plants in the world. Mercer maintains 18 plants for this collection.. The rare plants in need of sponsorship are: Southern Lady’s-slipper Orchid, Texas Golden Glade Cress, Slender Gay-feather, Corkwood, Prairie Dawn, Louisiana Quillwort, Navasota False Foxglove, Rough-stemmed Aster, Texas Windmill-grass, White Firewheel, Neches River Rose Mallow, Correll’s False Dragon-head, Houston Camphor Daisy and Texas Trillium.

The ROGC, The Garden Club of Houston and Magnolia Garden Club of Beaumont aided in the first reintroductions of Texas Trailing Phlox to the Big Thicket National Preserve in East Texas in the mid 1990s. A second reintroduction coordinated by the National Park Service, is underway. ROGC’s dedication to conservation is stated in their reference: A Garden Book for Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast.

Anita A. Tiller, Botanist, Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens, Autumn 2002 

Photos by Greg Harmison:

Photo one: Left to right: Commissioner Eversole; Linda Gay, Mercer director; Ms. Thomas Hail, ROGC president; Ms. Zillah Oden, incoming ROGC president, in Mercer's courtyard at the check presentation.

Photo two: Left to right: Peter Wakefield and Linda Gay in Mercer's gazebo with the renovation and expansion plan for Mercer's Endangered Species Garden.