Join us on Tuesday, 14 April 2026 at 7:00 pm in the Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene, 1685 W 13th Ave, Eugene OR 97402, to listen to Whitey Lueck, University of Oregon. He will be presenting "Horticulture 'Then and Now'".
In this presentation, Whitey will briefly review his own horticultural background—with fun photos from the family archives—before focusing on the refreshingly nature-friendly approaches to contemporary horticulture that he saw when he returned to visit the places where he’d once lived and worked so many years before.
A lot has changed since Whitey Lueck in 1974 received the L. C. Chadwick Award from the American Society for Horticultural Science as the outstanding horticulture student in the United States. Whitey spent the next three years working as a horticulturist and landscape designer for municipal parks departments in France, Germany, and Switzerland. He then completed a Master of Science in plant ecology at Oregon State University; worked briefly as a horticulturist for Portland Parks and Recreation in Oregon; and subsequently taught horticulture at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
After arriving in Eugene in 1983, Whitey Lueck taught in the landscape program at Lane Community College and for years ran a small business as a consulting horticulturist and landscape designer. Then, for nearly two decades, he taught in the Landscape Architecture program at the University of Oregon—where he was the only faculty member with a degree in horticulture.
Along the way, Whitey’s “gardening” philosophy changed from a human-oriented approach—where the focus is almost exclusively on visual beauty—to a much broader nature-based approach where visual beauty and ecological function are of equal value.
In 2015, Whitey returned to Europe to observe changes in garden and parks design and management that had occurred since he’d worked there 40 years earlier and was pleased to find that his European colleagues’ approach to horticulture had changed along very similar lines to his own.
Program Location: The in-person meetings and speaker programs take place at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 1685 W 13th Ave, Eugene OR 97402.
Entrance is on the east side of the building and there is ample parking in the parking lots, which can be accessed from both Chambers St or W 13th Ave, with additional parking in the adjacent Looking Glass Center parking lot. Please do not park under their covered entry way. Overflow parking is also available in the first 20 spaces on the east and south side of Redeemer Fellowship Church just across Chambers St to the west. For location and parking information see our website at: www.thehardyplantgroup.org/contact
Meetings begin at 7:00 PM, but the doors open at 6:30 PM for botanical sample browsing, refreshments, and socializing. We meet the second Tuesday of the month, September through November, and January through May. The public is invited to attend our meetings. Admission is free for members and $5 for non-members.
This program will also be broadcast live via a Zoom webinar, if you are unable to attend in person, to all members of WVHPG. If you are not a member and would like to view this webinar please see our "About" page on our website to learn how to join. www.thehardyplantgroup.org/about
You may also like the following events from Willamette Valley Hardy Plant Group:
- This month, 14th October, 07:00 pm, WVHPG Educational Speaker Program Tuesday, 14 October 2025 in Eugene
- Next month, 11th November, 07:00 pm, WVHPG Educational Speaker Program Tuesday, 11 November 2025 in Eugene
- Happening on, 10th February, 07:00 pm, WVHPG Educational Speaker Program Tuesday, 10 February 2026 in Eugene
Also check out other
Workshops in Eugene,
Arts events in Eugene,
Virtual events in Eugene.
