[1] Holmgren was introduced to nature at an early age; through her father's conservation work on their property, and during family vacations to western national parks during the farm's off-season.

In addition to her own research, Holmgren became chief editorial assistant during the preparation of the last two volumes of the Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest with Hitchcock.

[5] Holmgren was also instrumental in conception, fundraising, and design of a new, state-of-the-art building to house the herbarium, the International Plant Science Center, which officially opened for research in 2002.

In addition to collecting many herbarium specimens that would provide the baseline data for descriptions and geographic distributions; Patricia was involved in editing, proofreading, and writing family treatments for the flora.

[1] In 2009, botanists W.L.Wagner & Hoch published Neoholmgrenia is a genus of flowering plants from Canada and western USA, belonging to the family Onagraceae and named in her honour.