Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center（伯德·约翰逊夫人野花中心）是美国得克萨斯州的官方州立植物园与树木园，隶属于得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校（The University of Texas at Austin）自然科学学院。中心占地约 284 英亩，坐落于奥斯汀西南郊，紧邻德州丘陵地（Texas Hill Country）北缘，横跨爱德华兹高原（Edwards Plateau）与德州黑土草原（Texas Blackland Prairies）两大生态区，是北美最具多样性的本土植物保育、研究与公众教育机构之一。中心由美国前第一夫人伯德·约翰逊夫人与女演员海伦·海斯（Helen Hayes）于 1982 年共同创立，原名”国家野花研究中心”（National Wildflower Research Center）；创立之初位于奥斯汀东部的 60 英亩地块，1995 年迁至现址的西南奥斯汀 La Crosse 大道沿线，1997 年正式更名为 Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center，沿用至今。2021 年秋季，中心正式加入得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校自然科学学院的野外台站网络，与 Brackenridge 野外实验室、Stengl Lost Pines 生物野外台站并列于生物多样性中心体系之下，由 Shalene Jha 教授出任首任学术研究主任。
植物保育与生态设计
中心以”激励本土植物保育”为使命，通过种子库、园艺繁育、研究、推广、教育与生态设计咨询六大方向推动其保育目标。中心收集并保存德州植物群落中关键物种的种子，为科学家提供繁殖研究、重引入项目以及生态修复材料，同时也为这些物种在野外的潜在灭绝提供一道后备屏障。园艺团队则从德州各地采集和繁育本土植物，其中既包括濒危与受胁物种，也包括对其他保育工作至关重要的物种，例如多种马利筋（Asclepias spp.）——帝王蝶的关键寄主。在生态设计方面，中心与开发商、政府机构、大学校园和市政部门合作，将本土植物融入景观以应对干旱与生物多样性丧失等环境问题。这些项目常常基于中心的科研成果，例如本土草坪草 Habiturf® 与屋顶种植介质 SkySystem™。Habiturf® 是一套由本土草种配比而成的耐旱草坪替代方案，目前以种子形式在市场上商业销售；SkySystem™ 则是专为炎热气候下屋顶种植本土植物研发的种植介质，已取得专利。中心位于得州的标志性气候带，其研究与示范对整个美国西南部乃至更广阔区域的可持续景观设计具有直接参考价值。
研究与教育
研究是中心的核心职能之一，长期聚焦于利用本土植物与精心设计来解决环境问题，特别是水资源短缺、气候变化以及健康生态系统的退化。最具标志性的成果之一，是持续 20 年的中央德州生态系统规定性焚烧（prescribed fire）研究项目，揭示了植物群落如何应对入侵物种与气候变化等威胁，可为德州乃至更大范围的草地管理规划提供科学依据。中心的研究还延伸到景观层面，包括为干旱与半干旱气候设计的绿色屋顶系统。教育是中心使命的另一支柱。中心与得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校合作开设本科与研究生课程，并通过儿童与成人学习者项目覆盖广泛的现场教学。同时，中心提供”Landscape for Life”等基于 SITES 可持续场地倡议原则的在线教育计划，主要面向房主群体。中心还举办多场专业研讨会、在线信息网络研讨会，为可持续与基于生态系统的设计以及其他主题提供专业培训。中心旗下的”Mr. Smarty Plants”问答平台迄今已回答逾 1 万个植物与园艺相关问题，是其公众科学服务的代表性窗口。
园林与公众体验
中心拥有约 9 英亩的栽培花园，包括 Luci and Ian Family Garden 与 Ann and O.J. Weber Pollinator Habitat Garden 等主题园区。占地约 16 英亩的 Mollie Steves Zachry Texas Arboretum 则汇集了来自德州各地的乔木与灌木物种。中心还有数英里的步行小径、多个教育展项、一家礼品店和一间咖啡厅（Wildflower Café），并定期举办本土植物销售活动。Luci 与 Ian 家庭花园因其可持续设计特色曾获得 SITES® 两星级评级。中心全年向公众开放：冬季与春季（9 月 1 日至次年 5 月 31 日）花园与步道开放时间为上午 9 点至下午 5 点，夏季（6 月 1 日至 8 月 31 日）则调整为上午 7 点至下午 3 点。得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校教职工与学生凭有效证件可免费入园，军人家庭在 Blue Star Museum 项目期间可凭有效证件享受免费入园。中心还提供与北美数百家植物园之间的互惠入园政策。
旗舰数据库与旗舰项目
中心运营着北美最全面的本土植物数据库——”Native Plants of North America”（北美本土植物），收录逾 9 千个北美本土植物类群（约占北美洲除墨西哥外所有植物物种的一半），并配有逾 5.5 万张相关图像与插图。数据库按州、按德州 12 个生态区、按蜂友好植物、按蜂鸟植物、按中央德州马利筋、按耐旱植物等多个专题分类汇编，对研究者、园艺师与公众均免费开放。除 Habiturf® 与 SkySystem™ 外，中心还在生态设计咨询领域承担了大量落地项目，向开发商、政府机构、校园和城市提供基于本土植物的景观解决方案；与得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校 Juenger 实验室合作开展柳枝稷（switchgrass）相关研究；并参与了德州 Bastrop 一带松林火灾后的恢复工作。中心被《Texas Country Reporter》评为 2013 年德州观赏野花排名第一的目的地，目前年均访客约 18.5 万人次，是得州本土植物文化与可持续景观理念的标志性场所。
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is the official state botanic garden and arboretum of Texas, part of The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Natural Sciences. Spanning roughly 284 acres at the suburban and wildland edge of Southwest Austin, the center sits just inside the Texas Hill Country and straddles both the Edwards Plateau and the Texas Blackland Prairies ecoregions, making it one of the most diverse native plant conservation, research, and public education institutions in North America. Founded in 1982 by former U.S. First Lady Lady Bird Johnson and actress Helen Hayes as the National Wildflower Research Center, the center opened on a 60-acre site in East Austin. Public demand quickly outgrew the original campus, leading to a relocation in 1995 to its current Southwest Austin home, and the formal renaming to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in 1997. In autumn 2021 the center officially joined The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Natural Sciences field station network alongside the Brackenridge Field Laboratory and the Stengl Lost Pines Biological Field Station, with professor Shalene Jha serving as its inaugural Academic Director of Research.
Plant Conservation and Ecological Design
The center’s mission is to inspire the conservation of native plants, pursued through six interlocking programs: plant conservation, horticulture, research, outreach, education, and consulting. Its seed bank collects and stores seeds of keystone species from Texas plant communities, supplying material for propagation studies, reintroduction projects, and ecological restoration work, while also serving as a safeguard against potential extinction in the wild. The horticulture team collects and propagates native plants from across Texas, including endangered and threatened species and plants important to broader conservation efforts such as milkweeds, the critical larval host of monarch butterflies. In ecological design, the center partners with developers, government agencies, university campuses, and municipalities to integrate native plants into landscapes as a response to drought and loss of wildlife habitat, frequently drawing on its own research. Two signature outputs are particularly noteworthy: Habiturf®, a native turfgrass blend sold commercially as seed that serves as a resilient, water-saving alternative to commonly used turf, and the patented SkySystem™, a planting medium developed specifically for growing native plants on roofs in hot climates. Because the center sits in a defining Texas climate zone, its research and demonstration work directly informs sustainable landscape practice across the U.S. Southwest and beyond.
Research and Education
Research is one of the center’s central functions, with a long history of supporting basic and applied work by both internal and external researchers. Much of the program focuses on using native plants and thoughtful design to address environmental problems, particularly water scarcity, climate change, and the loss of healthy ecosystems. A 20-year prescribed-fire study examining how Central Texas plant communities respond to invasive species and climate change is one of the center’s longest-running experiments, providing insights applicable to grassland stewardship across Texas. Additional work extends to landscape-scale interventions, including green roof systems designed for arid and semi-arid climates. Education forms the other pillar of the center’s mission. Staff teach in undergraduate and graduate courses at The University of Texas at Austin and reach a wider audience through children’s and adult learner programs, seasonal events, and online initiatives such as Landscape for Life, a homeowner-facing program built on the SITES sustainable sites principles. The center hosts numerous professional symposia and online webinars that deliver training on sustainable and ecosystem-based design and related topics. Its “Mr. Smarty Plants” public question-and-answer service has now answered more than ten thousand plant and gardening questions, representing one of the most visible public-science touchpoints of the institution.
Gardens and Public Experience
The center cultivates roughly 9 acres of themed gardens, including the Luci and Ian Family Garden and the Ann and O.J. Weber Pollinator Habitat Garden. The 16-acre Mollie Steves Zachry Texas Arboretum showcases tree and shrub species drawn from across Texas, while miles of walking trails, educational exhibits, a gift shop, and the Wildflower Café round out the visitor experience, complemented by biannual native plant sales. The Luci and Ian Family Garden has earned a SITES® two-star rating for its sustainable design features. The center is open year-round: gardens and trails are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from September 1 through May 31, and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the summer season from June 1 through August 31. Faculty, staff, and students of The University of Texas at Austin receive free admission with valid identification, and active-duty military families enjoy free admission through the Blue Star Museums program during the summer season. The center also participates in reciprocal admission programs with hundreds of public gardens across North America.
Flagship Database and Programs
The center operates Native Plants of North America, the most comprehensive native plant database for the continent, with profiles of roughly nine thousand taxa (roughly half of all plant species in North America excluding Mexico) and more than fifty-five thousand associated images and illustrations. The database is organized by state, by the 12 Texas ecoregions, by topic (bee-friendly plants, hummingbird plants, Central Texas milkweeds, drought-tolerant plants), and is freely available to researchers, horticulture professionals, and the general public. Beyond Habiturf® and SkySystem™, the center’s ecological design consulting team delivers projects for developers, agencies, campuses, and cities, and partners with UT Austin’s Juenger Lab on switchgrass research and contributes to post-fire pine forest recovery in the Lost Pines region near Bastrop, Texas. Named the No. 1 site in Texas for viewing wildflowers by Texas Country Reporter in 2013, the center now welcomes around 185 thousand visitors a year, standing as a defining institution for Texas native plant culture and sustainable landscape practice.
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