The Southern Living Plant Collection has partnered with another public garden in Texas, the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. In support of the Fort Worth Botanic Garden’s efforts to educate the public on horticulture and the environment, the Southern Living Plant Collection contributed several plant varieties, including new additions for spring 2011. Both the Southern Living Plant Collection and Fort Worth Botanic Garden are pleased with the collaboration and invite the public to watch the gardens in full bloom this spring.
Fort Worth Botanic Garden is located in the heart of Fort Worth's Cultural District and is the oldest botanic garden in Texas. It encompasses 109 acres of 23 specialty gardens with over 2,500 species of native and exotic plants. Nestled amongst the garden’s grounds are the Texas Native Forest Boardwalk, a 10,000 square foot tropical foliage conservatory, and the Botanic Garden Center providing space for meetings and special events.
In summer 2010, the Fort Worth Botanic Garden planted a variety of perennials, shrubs and trees from the Southern Living Plant Collection—
- Princess Blush Verbena
- Princess Dark Lavender Verbena
- Emerald Snow Loropetalum
- Blush Pink Nandina
- Flirt Nandina
- Early Bird crape myrtles (white)
The Fort Worth Botanic Garden is also one of the first gardens to introduce the Southern Living Plant Collection’s new Southgate series of Rhododendron varieties, a unique group of heat tolerant Rhododendrons developed to thrive in the Deep South. Steve Huddleston, the garden’s senior horticulturist said, “We were wary of growing rhododendrons in Fort Worth. However, of all the rhododendron varieties we received, Southgate Rhododendron Grace has done the best, and it has exhibited no dieback.”