Retired horticulture agent, consultant and educator to be SFA Gardens’ September lecture series speaker

NACOGDOCHES, Texas — Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Sept. 14 in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center.

Keith Hansen, a retired extension horticulture agent for Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, will present "I Wish I Never Planted That (There), and Other Thoughts after Gardening 30 Years in Tyler.”

Horticulture and gardening have been a hobby in the Hansen family for three generations, starting with Hansen’s grandfather who emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1875, and a subject in "A History of Cleveland and Its Environs." Hansen’s father was also a hobby gardener with a love of cultivated plants. 

Hansen’s career started 50 years ago in retail garden centers as a landscaper and retail sales associate in Austin, where he later helped friends start a new retail nursery. He has a bachelor’s and master's degree in horticulture from Texas A&M University, and three years of post-graduate studies in plant physiology from the University of California, Davis.

Before retiring in 2015, Hansen served as an extension horticulture agent in Corpus Christi and Tyler for 29 years. While in Tyler, he helped develop multiple areas within the Tyler Rose Garden, and he oversaw the Master Gardener program.

As an educator and consultant, Hansen learned and taught practical applications for a wide range of horticultural and gardening topics, working with homeowners with no previous gardening experience and master gardeners to retail and wholesale growers. Currently, Hansen consults and helps clients with their landscapes, yards and gardens. He also writes for the Texas Gardener magazine. 

The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month and includes a rare plant raffle after the program. The lecture is free and open to the public, but donations to the lecture series fund are always appreciated.

Parking is available at the PNPC, 2900 Raguet St., or Raguet Elementary School, 2708 Raguet St. 

For more information, email sfagardens@sfasu.edu.