FGNS is open to anyone with an interest in any aspect of flowers, gardening or nature. They raise money through an area-wide garden tour in June. The money is divided evenly between the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks and the Laurin Wheeler program series. In eleven years FGNS has given over $27,000 to the Botanical Garden. Each year FGNS program chair contacts speakers from all around the country to speak on varying topics. Ken Druse, this year’s main speaker, will give two talks in October. This year’s programs also include: China’s Three Gorges Dam Project on the Yangtze River, Hellebores by Barry Glick, Habitat Gardens: Working with Nature, Gourds: prehistory, mythology, botanical info, Lesser known trees and shrubs for NWAR landscapes, Blue Springs Mending Medicine Trail and Preservation of Indigenous Plants in Eureka Springs, Trees and Shrubs for Year-Round Interest, and Vascular Flora Project of Arkansas.