AUSTIN, Texas—The American Botanical Council (ABC) will celebrate HerbDay with a variety of free educational and herb-related activities in Austin on May 3. The family-friendly day will include herb walks, herb talks, a plant sale, children’s activities and more. The activities will begin at 10 a.m. HerbDay will be held at the ABC headquarters at 6200 Manor Road in Austin. The celebration is free and open to the public.

Activities include two herbalist-led tours of ABC’s medicinal- and culinary-themed gardens. The first herb walk will start at 10:30 am and will be led by Ellen Zimmermann, founder and director of the Austin School of Herbal Studies and EZ Herbs. Ginger Webb, founder and director of the Sacred Journey School of Herbal Wisdom and Texas Medicinals, will lead the second herb walk at 1:15 pm. Each herb walk will last approximately 45 minutes and will give guests the chance to see dozens of herbs and learn about their medicinal uses.

Feather Jones, founder of the Rocky Mountain Center for Botanical Studies will lead a lecture on herbs at noon. Jones will focus on herbal support for hay fever and allergy season. ABC founder and executive director Mark Blumenthal will speak at 2:30 pm on “Humorous Health: Medicine, Drugs, Diet, Alternative Medicine, & Lifestyle as Seen through Newspaper Cartoons."

Along with the tours and lectures, guests can also explore ABC’s herb gardens on their own and purchase plants at the plant sale held throughout the day. Children’s activities include a maypole dance and a planting station for kids to create their own garden projects. Refreshments, educational literature and membership information will be available.