Native Plants In The Landscape
and The Life They Support
Richard Hitt
July 8, 2021 at 7:00 PM
Watch the Program on YouTube
Richard Hitt discusses our native Tennessee plants
and how we can use them in landscaping
Richard discusses a few major studies that sound the alarm on the recent and predicted decrease in biodiversity. He will discuss why we should plant more native species and how much of our landscape should be devoted to natives. The benefits of using native plants are illustrated with examples from his own suburban landscape in Franklin, TN.
Richard was born in Washington DC in 1950. In 1968, he matriculated to Florida State University on a flute scholarship. After a year in music, Richard changed his major to mathematics. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa during his junior year at FSU, and received the B.S. degree, magna cum laude, in 1972 (mathematics major and physics minor). He went on to earn the M.S. degree in mathematics in 1975, and the Ph.D. in mathematics in 1977 also from FSU.
In 1977, he joined the faculty of the University of South Alabama. During his 26-year career in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Richard was active in research, teaching, and service to the university and community. He received approximately $2 million in grants from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, Sun Microsystems, and Morrison Health Care for research, instrumentation and education. Richard received the Teacher of the Year award from the Internation Student Association in 1999. He retired from the faculty in 2003.
After retiring from academia and relocating to the Nashville area, Richard resumed his music activities and became a member of the Nashville Philharmonic Flute Ensemble (2009 - 2015) and served as a flute sub for the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra (2011 - 2018).
In 2012, Richard became a certified Williamson County Master Gardener and a certified Tennessee Naturalist. He is also a member of the Tennessee Native Plant Society and Wild Ones Middle Tennessee Chapter where he serves as the founding President. Richard regularly volunteers for Owl's Hill Nature Sanctuary in Brentwood, TN and for the Wild Ones Middle Tennessee Chapter.
More Information
Williamson County Master Gardener