Lady Bird Wildflower Center Spring Exhibit

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is stretching spring into the evening, keeping its Austin gardens open late on Tuesdays through May 12. (austintexas.org) Visit Austin lists the Tuesday Twilights run from March 24, 2026, through May 12, 2026, with extra hours for wildflower viewing each Tuesday night. (austintexas.org) Those evenings add live music, featured visual artists, food trucks and adult beverages for purchase to the regular garden visit. (austintexas.org) The Wildflower Center is not a pop-up flower show. It is the University of Texas at Austin’s Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, which calls itself the Botanic Garden of Texas. (wildflower.org) Its grounds cover 284 acres at 4801 La Crosse Ave. in southwest Austin, with daily hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and last garden entry at 4 p.m. (wildflower.org) The center says its gardens, arboretum and natural areas display nearly 900 species of native plants from major Texas ecoregions. (wildflower.org) (austintexas.org) That includes the Central Gardens, a 16-acre Texas Arboretum, and the Luci and Ian Family Garden, which gives children room for hands-on play and exploration. (wildflower.org) (austintexas.org) The site opened at its current location in 1995 after the organization was founded in 1982 by Lady Bird Johnson and Helen Hayes as the National Wildflower Research Center. (wildflower.org) Today, the center pairs public garden tourism with research, seed banking, restoration work and education focused on native plants and sustainable landscapes. (wildflower.org) For visitors this spring, that means the same place selling evening wildflower strolls is also the institution documenting, conserving and teaching the plants on display. (wildflower.org 1) (wildflower.org 2)