**ARCHIVED POST **
There won’t be an in-person symposium in the Fall of 2020.
Following a recommendation by Don and Pat Edwards, co-chairs of the Symposium Committee, the State Board decided not to have an in-person symposium this year. Don Edwards said that planning was complicated by uncertainties regarding use of facilities at Texas Woman’s University (TWU), in addition to risks associated with COVID-19. The committee will continue making plans for a 40th anniversary celebration at TWU, but will schedule it for Fall 2021 instead.
We will still hold our newsletter contest, video contest, and photo contest, and annual awards will still be presented.
In addition the Symposium Committee is considering a series of virtual events in Fall 2020, possibly centering around Texas Native Plant Week, which is the third full week in October. More details will be announced later.
The Native Plant Society of Texas was formed in 1980, and events surrounding its formation are chronicled in the online archives of the Texas Wildflower Newsletter published by Carroll Abbott. In April 1980, a symposium and awards banquet was held at TWU in conjunction with a Texas Wildflower Day celebration. Awardees received plaques with a bluebonnet design by Mary Jo Laughlin. The Fall 1980 issue of Abbott’s newsletter reported that the Native Plant Society of Texas had been formed and advertised charter memberships at the rate of $2.50 per year for newsletter subscribers and $7.50 for those who were not subscribers. The Society held its first annual members meeting in April 1981 at TWU.
**ARCHIVED POST**
**ARCHIVED POST LINKS & PICTURES MAY NOT WORK**
**ARCHIVED POST AUTHOR: Bill Hopkins
