The Crockett Garden Club is hosting a community event this spring with award-winning horticulturist Greg Grant, who will speak at the festivity on April 4 at 5 p.m. at the Family Life Center of the First United Methodist Church, 701 E. Goliad Ave., Crockett.

There is no charge and everyone is invited to attend the event, Jolene Renfro, Crockett Garden Club and Master Gardener, said. “It is our gift back to the community, which has so generously supported the Club and our projects,” she said. Grant’s title of his speech is “Gardening Naturally: Landscaping with Native Plants.”

“Greg Grant is a noted speaker and writer and always has interesting things to tell,” Renfro said. “Of all the talks Greg offered, garden club members voted to have this talk presented because of the interest of the group in promoting native plants as food for pollinators and because native plants are mostly trouble free and beautiful, and we want to encourage their use.” Grant, originally from Arcadia, is the author of “In Greg’s Garden – A Pineywoods Perspective on Gardening, Nature, and Family and Texas Fruit and Vegetable Gardening,” and co-author of “Heirloom Gardening in the South, Texas Home Landscaping,” and “The Rose Rustlers.” He also writes the popular “In Greg’s Garden” column for Texas Gardener magazine and writes a monthly “Greg’s Ramblings” blog. His real job; however, is the Smith County horticulturist for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Tyler. He has degrees in floriculture and horticulture, both from Texas A&M University and has attended post graduate classes at Louisiana State University, North Carolina State University and Stephen F. Austin State University. He has previous experience as a horticulturist with SFA Gardens, Mercer Arboretum, and San Antonio Botanical Gardens, an instructor at Stephen F. Austin and Louisiana State Universities, director of research and development at Lone Star Growers, and with the famed Antique Rose Emporium.