Photo by Thor Alvis on Unsplash

We’re back from summer break with an informative program on The Nature and Spirit of Japanese Gardens, from special guest Molly Conner Ogorzaly.

Molly Conner Ogorzaly

MolIy has a B.S. with distinction in Agriculture from Cornell University, an M.S. in Botany and a PhD. in Science Education from the University of Texas. As part of her Master’s thesis, she painted the rare and endangered plants of Texas which were later included on the Natural Heritage of Texas map that now graces schools and offices statewide. Her Doctoral dissertation was on the social and academic benefits of teaching gardens at schools and community centers. As Director of Education at Zilker Botanical Gardens for 7 years, she was able to promote this cause by building school gardens, developing the Plantmobile to bring this inspiring message out to schools, and spearheading the “Get Growing and Keep Going” symposium which brought many local non-profits with similar missions together to support teachers and teaching gardens. In 2014, the 4 th edition of Economic Botany: Plants in Our World, a college textbook she has illustrated and co-authored with Dr. Beryl Simpson of U.T. was published. Since then, Molly and husband Bob have continued exploring the many ways that we use and celebrate plants worldwide, bringing fresh material and inspiration to her “edutainment” presentations.