The Sugar Land Garden Club strives to provide a diverse slate of speakers addressing many different aspects of horticulture and plant propagation.  Monthly meetings are held at the Sugar Land Community Center, 226 Matlage Way, Sugar Land, starting with refreshments at 9:30am and the featured speaker at 10am. 

Announcing a special program of interest to be held in August. Please note the different location:

August 21, 2007, 2:00 p.m at the Sugar Land Library, 550 Eldridge

"Identifying, and Appreciating Native Grasses of the Texas Coastal Prairie" by Flo Hannah

Fort Bend County was once a part of the Texas Coastal Prairie that extended from the Louisiana border to south of Corpus Christi. Today, due to farming and development, less than 1% of the Coastal Prairie habitat exist. Flo Hannah, an expert on local grasses, will be describing the native tall grasses of this prairie habitat and their importance to wildlife. Flo is the Sanctuary Steward at the Houston Audubon Society. The Tallgrass Prairie habitat was the subject of a recent PBS program titled "America's Lost Landscape: The Tallgrass Prairie".

September 18^th, 2007 - Heidi Sheesley - "A Palette of Color for Fall Gardening"

Heidi owns TreeSearch Farms, a wholesale nursery specializing in plants that are native or well-adapted to our climate and soils. Her program will feature plants which will be available at our Garden Art and Plant Sale on the
following Saturday, September 22nd.

October 16^th, 2007 - John Ferguson - "Soil Food Web - Why Organics Work"

John Ferguson owns Nature's Way Resources, a composting company that specializes in high quality compost, mulch and soil mixes. John holds a MS
degree in Physics and Geology and is a licensed Soil Scientist in Texas.

November 20^th, 2007 - Lucia Bettler - "Enhance Holiday Cooking with Herbs"

Lucia Bettler is a past president of the International Herb Association, and a member of the Herb Society of America and the Houston Culinary Guild. She
is the co-owner of Lucia's Garden, and has been passionate about herbs since the 1970's.

January 15^th - Dr. William C. Welch - "Sugar Land Garden Club Celebrates 75 Years!'

Dr. Bill Welch, professor and Landscape Horticulturist with Texas A&M University, past board member and Life Member of Texas Garden Clubs, Inc., will give a presentation on the role of garden clubs in communities -
beautification, friendships, lessons and legacies.

Time: Refreshments and social time - 11:00 a.m., luncheon begins at 11:45.
Location: Safari Texas, 11627 FM 1464, Richmond
Seating is limited. Tickets go on sale in October. $25 for members, $30 for guests

February 19^th - Chris LaChance - "Rain Gardens: Beautiful WaterSmart Solutions"

Chris LaChance is the WaterSmart Program Coordinator for Texas Cooperative Extension and Texas Sea Grant, part of the Texas A&M University System. Her background includes eighteen years of teaching experience, and she is a certified Master Gardener and Master Naturalist. For the past 7 years she has worked to facilitate outreach and education on the issues of runoff pollution, water conservation, and landscaping for wildlife.


March 18^th - Michael Eason - "Millenium Seed Bank Project, Plant Conservation in Texas"

Michael Eason, a botanist, is the Conservation Program Manager at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and coordinates the Millennium Seed Bank Project in Texas. Michael will give a presentation on the global efforts of the MSB Project, an international plant conservation initiative of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, focusing on the efforts in Texas, specifically East Texas and their collaboration with Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Gardens and other Houston groups.

Melanie Tipton is owner & lead designer of Last Petal, a full service floral design studio. She earned a BS in Horticulture from Texas A & M in 1998 and worked in the studio of Gregor Lersch in Germany after graduation. Before opening Last Petal, she spent 4 years as the Horticulturist at the Museum of Natural Science in Houston.