Jim Locklear

Presenting: In the Country of the Kaw: Loving a Watershed

Jim Locklear is a botanist and horticulturalist and served as director of conservation at Omaha’s Lauritzen Gardens from 2010 to 2024. Previously he was director of the Dyck Arboretum of the Plains (Hesston, Kansas) and the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum. Jim is the author of Phlox: A Natural History and Gardener’s Guide and editor of the revised edition of Claude Barr’s wildflower classic, Jewels of the Plains. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska but grew up in Kansas City in the 1960s and 1970s, where he discovered ecology through exploring the Blue River and horticulture by working at Rosehill Gardens.