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We are pleased to introduce Wilderness and Wildflowers: The Legacy of Lady Bird Johnson, an exhibition created by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center to honor the former first lady and celebrate the centennial year of her birth. Now available through the Humanities Texas traveling exhibitions program, Wilderness and Wildflowers highlights Mrs. Johnson's adventurous spirit and deep commitment to the preservation and beautification of the nation's environment.

Featuring photographs, video, and excerpts from her speeches and writings, this exhibition introduces viewers to a strong and intelligent woman who cloaked her enterprising spirit in civility and a warm, gracious manner. Panel topics include Mrs. Johnson's childhood and school years in Texas, courtship and marriage to Lyndon Baines Johnson, and role as first lady as well as her national beautification campaign and "Discover America" trips.

Wilderness and Wildflowers opened at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in July 2012 on Lady Bird Johnson Tribute Day and debuted as a traveling exhibition at the United States Botanic Garden Conservatory in Washington, DC last month. It will remain on display in the USBGC west gallery until October 12.

In December 1984 and February 1985, Michael L. Gillette, then director of the LBJ Library's Oral History Program, conducted his only two video interviews with Lady Bird Johnson in the dining room at her home on the LBJ Ranch. Though the interviews were recorded to accompany an LBJ Library exhibition, A White House Diary, most of this footage has not been seen by the public. In the excerpt featured below, Mrs. Johnson discusses several themes of the new exhibition, including the origin of the beautification movement and the Great Society's challenges and achievements in conservation.