Native Plant Pioneers
In my 40 years in the green industry, l’ve seen the native plant introduction from its beginning to where it’s a major part of most landscapes. We here in the Austin/San Antonio area were the leading edge in natives being commercially available to landscape gardeners.
When I began our plant palate was generally the mass-produced plants from the East. The common plants Ligustrum, Burford Hollies, Privet, and Photinia were the basis of most landscapes. The Pioneers Lynn Lowery, Greg Grant, Pat Mc Neal, Grant Stephenson, Conrad Bering, Patrick Kerwin, Heidi Scheedy, and Dan Hosage. These pioneers were instrumental in gathering and selecting a majority of the native plants that are used today. The nurserymen like Bill Carson from Native Texas Nursery and the visionaries at Lonestar Growers Joe Bradberry, and Tom Dickerson were who took the chance to introduce them.