The Herb Society of America - South Texas Unit

08/06/2026

06/29/2026

Thanks so much to the Hermann Park Conservancy for inviting STU to Kicking It at Hermann Park! We had so much fun today with our Herb and Flower Pounding pop up. 😍 these masterpieces! Edited to add a few more pics!

05/18/2026

Announcing Our May Evening Program: “Bringing Butterflies Home - Gardening with Native Plants to Heal Our Yards and Ourselves”

Time: Wednesday, May 20, 2026 at 7pm (Public Program begins at 7:20 pm)

Place: The Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion in Hermann Park, 1500 Hermann Dr., Houston, TX 77004

Speaker: Elizabeth White Olsen is the co-founder of GO Native Landscaping, LLC. She is a Texas Master Naturalist and has achieved Native Plant Society of Texas Landscape Certification Levels 1 and 3. She also teaches adult writing and nature education classes at Rice's Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies and holds two master’s degrees of fine arts in writing.
In addition to her recently published “Bringing Butterflies Home - Gardening with Native Plants to Heal Our Yards and Ourselves”, she has written an acclaimed book of poetry.

Free and Open to to the Public

When someone writes a book that prompts the esteemed entomologist and conservationist, Douglas Tallamy, to say the following, "Elizabeth White Olsen not only tells you how you can help butterflies, but also how butterflies can help you.
Packed with wonderful information and more than a dollop of wisdom, “Bringing Butterflies Home” is a must-read for everyone!”, gardeners and nature lovers should take notice!

The South Texas Unit of The Herb Society of America is proud to host Elizabeth White Olsen as the featured speaker for our May 20 Evening Meeting. Elizabeth will share her multidimensional insights into the wonders of butterflies - from her point of view as an artist, a poet, and a landscape architect dedicated to native plants and planting for pollinators and butterflies.

“Bringing Butterflies Home” has been described as “practical advice with a sense of wonder, helping readers see the landscape through a butterfly’s eyes”, “deeply empathetic”, “profoundly spiritual”, and “based on science, yet clear, fun to read, and filled with the joy that Elizabeth feels for her subject”.

Elizabeth is also an artist, and the lovely block print illustrations in her book are her own work. Her program will include a discussion of her artistic process and a
demonstration of the tools she uses.

We will also be able to view a “butterfly tent” which will include all stages of butterfly development, from eggs, to caterpillars, to mature forms.

Following the program, “Bringing Butterflies Home” will be available for purchase
and signing.

Everyone interested in butterflies, especially older children, and those who are teaching them to appreciate nature, are welcome!

05/09/2026

Shrubs: The Beverage. Crafting refreshing herbal beverages.

Shrub is a colonial-day drink made from a concentrated syrup made from fruit, vinegar and sugar mixed with water. In the 19th century, the drink was often spiked with brandy or rum. In its recent revival, it’s a popular non-alcoholic cocktail.

We’ll be talking about making the syrups and sharing recipes. Come thirsty and curious. Samples will be shared of 8 different fruit and herb combinations.

Tuesday, May 12 at 10 am
Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion.
Bring a sack lunch to eat following the meeting.
Free and open to the public!

04/27/2026

Announcing Our April Evening Program: “Patterns in Nature”

Time: Wednesday, April 29, 2026 at 7pm

Place: The Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion in Hermann Park, 1500 Hermann
Dr., Houston, TX 77004

Speaker: Diana Wilson, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and BS in
Urban and Regional Planning, Texas A&M University, and member of the
Texas Native Plant Society of Texas

Free and Open to to the Public

How many examples of Fibonacci sequences or spirals can you find in your yard? Or in your refrigerator? Once you become familiar with this famous mathematical principle, you will start finding them everywhere! Nature relies on Fibonacci relationships to survive, thrive, and reproduce; and even if we don’t know Fibonacci from Pinocchio, we perceive these relationships as beautiful.

Leonardo Bonacci, known as Fibonacci, (c. 1170 – c. 1240–50) was an Italian mathematician who introduced the Arabic numbering system we use today to the Western world. He also described a series of numbers that appear everywhere in nature, from the leaf arrangement in plants to the pattern of petals or florets of a flower, and from the bracts of a pine cone to the scales of
a pineapple.

Fern fronds unfurl “gracefully”, brussel sprouts march up their stems in an orderly manner, and sunflowers pack their progeny into mesmerizing arrays of intersecting spirals - all by following the mathematical principles described by Fibonnacci. To us, the result is beautiful, even hypnotic; to the
plant, it’s the sweet spot where maximal efficiency meets minimal effort.

Briefly, a Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers where each number is the
sum of the two numbers before it. For example: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5… is a Fibonacci sequence. 1 is the sum of the two numbers before it (0+1), 2 is the
sum of the two numbers before it (1+1), and so on. The ratio of one Fibonacci number to the preceding or following number in the sequence has profound mathematical significance.

If math is not your “thing”, don’t worry - this program is not about the math. It’s an invitation to look closely at the brilliant patterns and “language” of nature.

The ability to recognize Fibonacci principles in nature is guaranteed to
elevate our sense of wonder and appreciation of the world around us.

This program is free, and everyone is welcome

03/16/2026

Announcing Our March Evening Program: “Agave Plants and the Spirits (And Other Products) Obtained from Them”

Time: Wednesday, March 18, 2026 at 7pm

Place: The Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion in Hermann Park, 1500 Hermann Dr., Houston, TX 77004

Speaker: Liliana Cracraft, Member Houston Cactus and Succulents Society

Free and Open to the Public.

The agave world is huge - not so much because the genus Agave consists of some 300 species of thorny and spiky flowering plants, but because agave is distilled for popular spirits such as tequila and mescal. Agave plants are also roasted and eaten; processed into a syrupy sweetener; crushed to separate fibers for sisal, clothing, and rope; used for wound care, digestive problems, and skin issues; added to natural skincare and hair care products; and even used as a primitive needle and thread. The waste products of mescal and fiber production are even used to make disposable biodegradable products such as straws and cups.

“Agave” comes from the Greek word which means "noble" or “admirable”, and probably refers to its statuesque form and towering stalk. The Aztec people considered agave to be a sacred plant. Pulque, a fermented alcoholic beverage made from the sap, was consumed during religious ceremonies as a way to connect with the divine and seek guidance and favor from the gods.

Tequila, the iconic Mexican spirit, is produced by roasting the central core, or the piña, of the blue agave, followed by crushing to extract the juices, fermentation, distillation, and aging. Only the liquor derived from the blue agave grown in particular regions of Mexico can be called “tequila”; other agave-based spirits are designated “mescal”. Today, trendy distilleries produce variations such as agave gin which includes avocado leaf, yerba santa, cacao, and Oaxaca tangerine and an agave whiskey. Seedlip has recently launched a nonalcoholic spirit made with prickly pear and agave.

Master distiller and biochemist Iván Saldaña has also created a nonalcoholic tequila. “Agave is an excellent vessel for such explorations,” says Saldaña. “There are so many volatile molecules that exist in agave. Some bring the fresh, green dimensions of the plant, and then there are the compounds created when you caramelize the sugars or cook the agave.”

Saldaña has also experimented with glycoproteins from a variety of mushrooms to add freshness and pungency, and capsicum, a molecule that chiles generate, to create heat when sipped.

For more information about the wonderful world of agaves, join us Wednesday, March 18, for “Agave Plants and the Spirits (And Other Products) Obtained from Them”. This program is free and everyone is welcome.

02/15/2026

Announcing Our February Evening Program: “The Culinary Artistry of Frida Kahlo”

Time: Wednesday, February 18, 2026 at 7pm

Place: The Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion in Hermann Park, 1500 Hermann Dr., Houston, TX 77004

Speaker: Chris Smith, Houston restaurateur

Free and Open to the Public.

Born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderon in 1907, Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter known particularly for her provocative self-portraits, her Communist sympathies, and her tempestuous marriage to fellow painter Diego Rivera.

Frida and Diego were both steeped in the intellectual atmosphere of the Mexican Revolution. It was a time of turbulent re-invention, and as the traces of lingering European influence were discarded, everything indigenous, from folk art to culinary traditions, was embraced and promoted. This preference for indigenous culture can be seen in the traditional clothing and elaborate headdresses favored by Frida, in Diego’s murals and extensive pre-Columbian art collection, and in the traditional food on their table.

Meal time gatherings were well known for good food, strident leftist discussions, music, and copious libation. Recipes were based on the deep culinary traditions of indigenous Mexico, prepared over wood flame, and eaten with tortillas rather than forks and knives. Meals were also presented in a style befitting an artist. A friend said, “Every day Frida made the table into a still life for Diego,” with dishes and fruit arranged with a half-dozen bouquets from the market. For Frida, “domestic tasks took on the nature of an art project…Setting the table was a ritual.. [And] the food itself was treasured for its beauty as well as for its flavors.”

When Diego was painting a mural and unable to make the noon meal, Frida took him his lunch in a turquoise pewter pail just as “campesino women” took lunch to their husbands in the fields. Diego’s pail, however, would have included fresh flowers artistically arranged and linen napkins embroidered with the words “I adore you” along with his meal.

One of my favorite stories about Frida and Diego’s domestic life concerns Diego’s favorite dish, chicken mole. This is a complex and time-consuming recipe that, in her typical unconventional way, Frida learned to make from Lupe, Diego’s second wife and Frida’s immediate predecessor! Frida and Diego had made their first home as a married couple in the apartment building owned by Lupe. Lupe continued to live on the top floor with the two daughters she shared with Diego, while Frida and Diego lived below. The two women grew to be good friends and Lupe taught Frida many of the recipes Diego preferred.

To learn more about Frida’s culinary artistry - her table decorations, famous guests, favorite recipes and their traditional ingredients, please join us for “The Culinary Artistry of Frida Kahlo”. And be sure to visit the current Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, special exhibition, “Frida - The Making of an Icon”. The STU program is free and open to the public.

02/10/2026

Join us for February's Day Meeting on Tuesday, February 10th at 10 am. Our very own Dr. Catherine O’Brien will be talking to us about making soft cheeses in her presentation, "Making Yogurt, Mozzarella and Ricotta." We’ll have the opportunity to make one of the cheeses during the meeting. If you have a favorite herb recipe or dish using yogurt, mozzarella or ricotta that you’d like to share, feel free to bring it.

Bring your sack lunch so you can stay after the presentation and either socialize or participate in the book discussion of Sarah Lohman’s Endangered Eating.

Free and open to the public!

1500 Hermann Dr, Houston, TX 77004
Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion
Hermann Park
Free and accessible parking available