Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 9, in the Ina Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St. Greg Grant, research associate with the SFA Gardens’ Pineywoods Native Plant Center, will present “Show Me Your Garden and I Shall Tell You What You Are: Twenty Years Creating One View.”

Grant, who is an award-winning horticulturist, writer, conservationist and seventh-generation Texan, will relate two decades of planning the landscape in front of his restored family home during his lecture. He lives in his grandparents’ restored dogtrot farmhouse, where he tends a small cottage garden, his Rebel Eloy Emanis Pine Savanna and Bird Sanctuary, a flock of laying hens, and terriers Acer, Lizzie, Mollie and Sonny.

He is author of “In Greg’s Garden: A Pineywoods Perspective on Gardening, Nature, and Family” and “Texas Fruit and Vegetable Gardening,” and is co-author of “Heirloom Gardening in the South,” “Texas Home Landscaping” and “The Southern Heirloom Garden.” He is currently finishing “The Rose Rustlers” with William C. Welch and Texas A&M Press. He also writes the popular “In Greg’s Garden” column for Texas Gardener magazine and writes “Greg’s Ramblings,” a monthly blog at arborgate.com.

Grant has degrees in floriculture and horticulture both from Texas A&M University, and he has attended post-graduate classes at Louisiana State University, North Carolina State University and SFA. His garden, farm and plant introductions have been featured in many magazines and newspapers, including Southern Living, Woman’s Day, Texas Gardener, Neil Sperry’s Gardens, The Dallas Morning News, The Houston Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times and The San Antonio Express News.

The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month at SFA’s Pineywoods Native Plant Center. A rare plant raffle will be held after the program. The lecture is free and open to the public but donations to the Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series fund are always appreciated.

Parking is available at the nearby Raguet Elementary School, 2428 Raguet St., with continual shuttle service to the Ina Brundrett Conservation Education Building.

For more information, call (936) 468-1832 or email grantdamon@sfasu.edu.

Chad Huckaby of Martinsville has been appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to serve as student regent on Stephen F. Austin State University’s Board of Regents during the 2016-17 academic year.

Huckaby, who graduated from SFA in May 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics, is now pursuing a Master of Science in mathematical sciences at the university. He was named Mr. SFA during his senior year.

Huckaby serves on the student advisory board of Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership honor society, and he will join ODK’s national advisory council later this summer. He also works as a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics in SFA’s College of Sciences and Mathematics.

“I am humbled to be selected to serve as student regent,” Huckaby said. “It means a lot to me, and it speaks to the university’s ability to develop student leaders that a person from a small town like Martinsville can be chosen as one of only a few student regents in Texas to serve in this capacity.”

A third-generation Lumberjack, Huckaby said he plans to graduate with his master’s degree in May 2017 and pursue a career in public service.

“My tenure at SFA has fundamentally changed who I am as a leader,” he said. “It has strengthened my work ethic, and I bleed purple.”

Huckaby’s first official duty will be attending the quarterly meeting of the SFA Board of Regents July 25-26.

The addition of a crop science course into the core curriculum has accelerated the need to build a 7,200-square-foot, three-bay, gutter-connected greenhouse totaling $150,000 on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center.

The new facility will provide the SFA Gardens with a much-needed area for plant production and student-driven research projects, said SFA Gardens Director Dr. David Creech, as well as assist horticulture and forestry students in obtaining real-world experience in an industry-standard greenhouse.

“Our current area is already inadequate to house the space needs we have for numerous horticulture labs,” said Dawn Stover, SFA Gardens research associate, “including crop science, fruits and vegetables, plant propagation, nursery management, greenhouse management, etc., as well as soil science experiments, graduate student projects, an active horticulture club, and plants for the SFA Gardens and the Sprout Garden.”

The greenhouse will be used to grow plants for special projects and research. It also will be used to grow many of the plants available for purchase at fundraiser plant sales. Stover said the SFA Gardens also would benefit by incorporating many of the plants grown there into its landscapes.

“With the addition of crop science into the core, we have the potential to see 150 additional students each semester,” said Stover. “We simply need more space to accommodate our growing program.”

To make a donation, call (936) 468-5406; visit www.sfasu.edu/give; or mail checks, write “greenhouse” in the memo line, to P.O. Box 6092, SFA Station, Nacogdoches, Texas 75962-6092.