Virtual Flora and “Tree Lady” Margret Hofmann

On this episode, we discuss virtual foliage, time travel, and big trees. Colleen looks into how video games might play a role in curing plant blindness, and Leah shines a light on the remarkable life and legacy of Margret Hofmann (1925-2012), whose 1970s “Think Trees” campaign introduced Austinites to a majestic urban forest hidden in plain sight. As a City Council member, Hoffman advocated for the preservation of heritage trees, spearheading a contest to locate our city’s biggest and oldest trees, and laying the foundation for our city’s tree-protection ordinances. 

Hofmann in 1975 with the Braker Lane live oak. Photo by Alan Pogue.

The same tree as pictured above. Now in the parking lot of a Northern Tool & Equipment.

Mentioned in this episode: 

The Greenberg Turkey plant explosion; “A Video Game Garden: The Delights of Virtual Botany” (The Guardian); Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture; Video Game Foliage (Tumblr); the iNaturalist app; Myst; Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut; A Key To Survival by Margaret Hofmann; 

The 1976 Tree Registry; Hofmann’s archive at the Austin History Center; The Secret Life of Plants documentary; Photo by Alan Pogue of Hofmann in 1975 with a historical marker at the site of a 700-year-old live oak at I-35 and Braker Lane (see the tree on Google Street View)

The biggest tree in Austin? According to the 1976 Tree Registry, this bald cypress, on the south bank of Lady Bird Lake, may win the prize for size.

Literature from the “Think Trees” campaign. From the collection of the Austin History Center.