BTNEP Native Plant Giveaway | Saturday, September 14, 2024, 8 - 12 pm
2024-09-14 08:00 - 12:00 UTC
Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program (BTNEP) will give away native plants at the BTNEP native plant nursery/Nicholls Farm, 906 Thoroughbred Park Dr., Thibodaux, LA 701301

Creating Overwintering Habitat for Beneficial Insects
2024-09-15 13:30 - 15:30 UTC

more Seed Packing for Mardi Gras at NOLA Brewing
2024-09-21 11:00 - 13:00 UTC | NOLA Brewing, 3001 Tchoupitoulas
A second round of seed packing for Mardi Gras throws is scheduled with Grounds Krewe at NOLA Brewing. Family and dog friendly!

PLANTFEST! Teaser 2024
2024-09-29 14:00 - 15:30 UTC
Featuring: Dr. Jenneke Visser
Sunday, September 29, 2-3:30 pm

Dr. Jenneke Visser, coastal scientist and devoted Hilltop Hodge Podge volunteer will present her “Top 25 Garden Plants” on Sunday, September 29, from 2-3:30 pm in the Beverly Brown Coates Auditorium at LSU Hilltop Arboretum, 11855 Highland Road in Baton Rouge. To put the “tease” in this annual PLANTFEST! pre-quel, one of each of the plants discussed will be raffled off for purchase. Enter the raffle for your chance to bring home your favorite plant prior to the sale!
Join us for a post-program “walkabout” through the Hodge Podge Nursery where the plant arena will be set up with plants in their final nestling place for PLANTFEST! What better occasion to start your plant list and check it twice, to determine which plants will be naughty or nice in your yard!
Dr. Jenneke Visser has worked in and researched coastal Louisiana for more than 25 years. In addition to teaching at University of LA Lafayette and serving as Associate Director of the Institute for Coastal and Water Research, she has been an advisor on several coastal wetland restoration planning efforts and has made significant contributions to restoration outcome forecasting. Jenneke is a reliable and dedicated Hilltop volunteer and co-authored the Friends of Hilltop Arboretum’s “Native Plant Designation: Definitions, Methodology, and Procedure”.
Registration is free for members of the Friends of Hilltop at the Azalea ($50) level and above; $25 for the public and members below the Azalea level; and $20 for students. For additional information about PLANTFEST!, to register for the Teaser, or to become a member, visit www.lsu.edu/hilltop or email hilltop@lsu.edu.

LSU Hilltop Arboretum PLANTFEST! 2024
2024-10-02 - 2024-10-06
Wednesday, October 2, 2024 (members-only sale)
Saturday and Sunday, October 5-6, 2024 (public sale)

BATON ROUGE, LA – The LSU Hilltop Arboretum will hold its annual fall PLANTFEST! on Saturday, October 5, from 9am-4 pm and Sunday, October 6, from 12-4 pm at LSU Hilltop Arboretum, 11855 Highland Road in Baton Rouge. Current Friends of Hilltop members will receive an invitation to the Members-Only Sale on Wednesday, October 2, from 9 am – 6 pm where shoppers will have the first pick of plants.

Celebrating decades of masterfully connecting people and plants in the unique, natural space that is the LSU Hilltop Arboretum, PLANTFEST! will feature over 300 species of native and traditional trees, shrubs, perennials, vines, ferns, ornamentals, and grasses, for purchase, sourced from reputable and trusted nurseries in Louisiana. Hilltop “plant experts” will be on hand to assist with your plant selections and offer advice, whether you are looking to compose a stunning plant vignette, attract butterflies, or grow more natives in your landscape. Purchase a commemorative PLANTFEST! t-shirt and browse our unique collection of gently used eclectic wares at the “Yarden” sale. Visit the children’s tent for crafts, fall-inspired activities, and take-home treats for your young ones. We believe there is truly something for everyone at Hilltop! All purchases are tax-free during the sale.
Become a Friends of Hilltop member by Thursday, September 26, to receive access to the Members-Only Sale and discounts at PLANTFEST! Members at the $50 Azalea level and above will receive free admission to the PLANTFEST! Teaser on Sunday, September 29.

A list of plants being offered at PLANTFEST! will be published online the week prior to the sale www.lsu.edu/hilltop.

Fall Garden Fest City Park New Orleans
2024-10-05 09:00 - 2024-10-06 16:00 UTC
Join us this fall for plant and garden product exhibits and sales, educational programs, music, arts & crafts, cooking demonstrations and MORE. 1 Palm Drive New Orleans, LA 70124 504-482-4888

PULL and PRUNE at the Keller library
2024-10-09 16:30 - 18:30 UTC
All interested volunteers ready to pull weeds and prune plants are invited to participate at Keller Library, 4300 S. Broad, New Orleans on Wed., Oct. 9th, 4:30 – 6:30 pm. Bring water, gloves, hat, etc.

Paddle Bayou Lafourche, Saturday October 12, 7 am to 3 pm
2024-10-12 07:00 - 15:00 UTC
Hosted by BTNEP, this event offers an immersive and unique view of Bayou Lafourche and a chance to explore one of the most important waterways of our estuary, offering a 15-mile paddle starting in Napoleonville, and a 9.5-mile paddle starting in Labadieville/Thibodaux. Both paddles will end at the Nicholls Bayou Side Park pavilion located across the street from the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at 914 E. First St. in Thibodaux. The first shuttle/launch from Napoleonville will begin at 7:15 am, and the second shuttle/launch from Labadieville/Thibodaux will begin at 9:30 am. We anticipate paddlers will arrive at the Nicholls pavilion around 12 – 1 pm. The paddle will be followed with free food and refreshments, and live music by the Cajun Music Preservation Society at the pavilion.

DEADLINE TO REGISTER IS OCTOBER 4, 2024! To ensure you receive an event t-shirt, please register by September 27, 2024.
This year’s registration is $50 per paddler, and $20 for paddlers 12 and under. ALL minors (17 and below) must be registered by and accompanied by an adult of 18 years or older. All paddlers will be responsible for coordinating their own kayak/canoe/pirogue and life vest for use. Participants will not be allowed in the water without a life vest. If you need to rent a kayak, please contact Geaux Paddle at geaux-paddle.com or by phone at 985-324-0576 and mention BTNEP’s Paddle Bayou Lafourche.

If you have any issues registering or need more information, please email us at info@btnep.org or call us at 985.447.0868.

NPI membership meeting
2024-10-26 09:00 - 11:00 UTC
NPI membership meeting at the Bucktown shoreline. Jason, from the office of ecosystem and coastal management of Jefferson parish, will give a guided tour for members. More details to come.

Native plant garden clean up at Keller Library
2024-11-20 15:00 - 17:00 UTC | Rosa Keller Library, 4300 S Broad Avenue, New Orleans, LA, 70125, United States
Come join a team of volunteers to help clean up the native plant garden at the Keller Library, 4300 S. Broad.
Bring your gloves, hats, water and love of native plants for a 2 hour fun session. You may come away with some native seeds!

Membership Meeting at Audubon Nature Center, 11000 Lake forest Blvd., New Orleans
2024-12-07 09:00 - 11:00 UTC
Agenda includes election for two-year terms for NPI vice president, treasurer, and one board member.
Special speaker: Margaret Fegan shares her NPI-sponsored attendance at the 2024 Cullowhee Native Plant Conference in North Carolina.
After the election and Margaret’s talk, we’ll stroll the nature center grounds to identify native plants. As always, anyone (NPI members or not) is welcome to attend the meeting and stick around afterwards to share native plants and seeds. However, this time, space is limited to 40 people in the meeting room. It will be first come first served.

Volunteer Work Day
2025-03-23 09:00 - 12:00 UTC | UNO Fine Arts Woodlot, Founders Road, New Orleans, LA, United States
At the University of New Orleans Fine Arts Woodlot (corner of Founders Road and Levee Road on the UNO Campus). Become a conservation hero in just three hours: pack up your garden tools, roll up your sleeves, pull on your gloves, and join the team to make life better for the birds, insects, and other critters at the Woodlot.

2025 Spring Garden Show
2025-04-04 09:00 - 2025-04-06 16:00 (America/Chicago) | City Park Botanical Garden
Mark your calendars for education programs, plant sales, music, and more: it’s THE spring event for plant people! The NPI booth will help gardeners corral those dad-blasted bad weeds that are whooping it up in our gardens by showcasing the NPI website’s Good Weed, Bad Weed database. Saddle up and lend a hand, partner: VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED on Friday afternoon (April 4) to load in display and supplies and set up the booth, to staff the booth on Saturday and Sunday, and to load out display and supplies on Sunday. Sign up to volunteer here!

Talk at Longue Vue by the Curator of Briarwood, the Caroline Dormon Nature Preserve
2025-04-06 10:30 (America/Chicago)
Greater New Orleans Iris Society (GNOIS) and Longue Vue House and Garden are hosting Bayli Q. Brossette, the Curator of Briarwood, the Caroline Dormon Nature Preserve, for a Sunday morning, 10:30 AM. April 6 talk in the Playhouse at Longue Vue.
Admission is free.
Briarwood is an important historical site for Louisiana irises and native
plants. Take a look at the GNOIS website page on Bayli and Briarwood,
and come meet her. https://louisianairisgnois.com/bayli/.

LOUISIANA IRIS DAY AT LONGUE VUE
2025-04-08 16:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
On Tuesday evening, April 8, from 4 PM to 7 PM, we return to Longue Vue for an early
gathering in the Wild Garden. This event is free to members of Greater New Orleans Iris Society and Longue Vue with registration.
Simply go to https://13403a.blackbaudhosting.com/13403a/Iris-Day.
This is a laid-back event, with refreshments, a chance to stroll through the irises and other
plants in the Wild Garden and talk to like-minded folks.
Be sure to register!!

Rosa Keller Pull & Prune
2025-04-09 16:00 - 18:00, 2025-05-14 16:00 - 18:00 UTC | Rosa F. Keller Library & Community Center, 4300 South Broad in New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, 70114-1389, United States
SECOND WEDNESDAY EVERY MONTH: ROSA KELLER PULL & PRUNE – Local garden consultants Whimscapes are leading the native plants maintenance team at Rosa F. Keller Library and Community Center (4300 South Broad in New Orleans). You’re invited to join the monthly “Pull & Prune” 4:00-6:00 p.m. on April 9 and May 14, The garden features a bioswale with native plants and trees that reduces stormwater runoff, brightens the neighborhood with year-round blooms and pollinators, and showcases the teamwork of NPI, the New Orleans Public Library system, the Master Gardeners of Greater New Orleans, and the New Orleans Department of Parks and Parkways.

Open house at the Iris Island Nursery
2025-04-12 10:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
The Open House at the Iris Island Nursery, inside City Park, is the event we point to all year. An acre of blooming Louisiana iris cultivars and species! You can’t see a sight like this anywhere else! 10 AM – 4 PM,
Saturday, April 12. Free!
We need some member help with the Open House. At 8 AM before visitors come at 10
AM, we need people to help deadhead the irises. It is just a matter of pinching off the
spent flowers. The display will look immensely better for visitors. It’s a quick, easy task but
we have a lot of space to cover!
Here’s a video preview of the island: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzcytuPb8Dw
Get directions here: https://tinyurl.com/yc5ud9cd

Turtle Cove Research Station Field Trip
2025-05-31 08:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | turtle cove research station
This members-only Field Trip will include a pontoon boat ride down Pass Manchac, during which we will learn about the natural history of the physical environment, environmental history (social, economic, and cultural aspects), impacts of cypress deforestation and ecosystem restoration, and physical and socioeconomic impacts of and solutions to wetland loss and coastal erosion. We can expect to see a variety of flora and fauna, including alligators, snakes, birds, mammals, fish, and invertebrates.
Afterwards, attendees may wish to go on to a walk on the Joyce Wildlife Management Area SwampWalk.
Reserve your spot here!

Lafitte Greenway NPI Volunteer Day
2025-06-11 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Chicago) | Lafitte Greenway, Greenway Plaza, 436 N. Norman C. Francis Pkwy., New Orleans, Louisiana
Join us as Whimscapes guides NPI volunteers in nurturing our beloved roundabout native garden at Lafitte Greenway! Roll up your sleeves for a rewarding morning of community weeding that helps our local ecosystem thrive. Connect with fellow nature enthusiasts, learn about native plant care, and make a visible difference in our shared green space. No experience necessary—just bring your enthusiasm and help us keep this urban oasis blooming beautifully. Together, we’ll ensure our native plants have room to flourish while enjoying fresh air, good company, and the satisfaction of environmental stewardship. See you there!

Please meet at Greenway Plaza, 436 N. Norman C. Francis Pkwy.
For safety, please wear closed-toe shoes.
Gloves, tools, and snacks will be provided.

Every Friday: Big Lake Native Plant Trail Restoration Project
2025-06-20 08:00 - 2025-09-19 10:00 UTC | Big Lake, City Park, 7 Freiderichs Ave
Put your gardening skills to work (and learn some new ones) on Fridays 8:00-10:00 a.m. at the Big Lake Native Plant Trail in New Orleans City Park (the trail is near the boat and bike rental on Friedrichs Avenue). Pull weeds, prune, plant, and work with some of the most knowledgeable gardeners around. City Park provides tools, clean gloves, water, and insect repellent or you can bring your own. Pick a Friday (or two? or more?) and sign up at the City Park Conservancy Volunteer Calendar of Events webpage. If you have questions, email team leaders Susan Norris-Davis or Jennifer Prout.

NPI Meeting at Longue Vue Gardens
2025-06-28 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
NPI MEETING AT LONGUE VUE HOUSE & GARDENS, 7 BAMBOO ROAD, NEW ORLEANS – Meet at the gatehouse (follow the link above and scroll down for a map) for a tour of the Wild Garden led by plant experts from Whimscapes and Chris and Sophie from Longue Vue. If you’re wondering what plants we’re likely to see at their summertime best, check out Longue Vue’s “What’s in Bloom?” webpage. As always, anyone and everyone (NPI member or not) is welcome to attend the meeting and to share native plants and seeds.

Pull & Prune 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Rosa F. Keller Library and Community Center
2025-07-09 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
Pull & Prune at Rosa F. Keller Library and Community Center (4300 South Broad in New Orleans). The garden features a bioswale with native plants and trees that reduces stormwater runoff, brightens the neighborhood with year-round blooms and pollinators, and showcases the teamwork of NPI, the New Orleans Public Library system, the Master Gardeners of Greater New Orleans, and the New Orleans Department of Parks and Parkways.

SEED PACKING & DOCUMENTARY SCREENING AT THE MATERIAL INSTITUTE
2025-07-26 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
SEED PACKING & DOCUMENTARY SCREENING AT THE MATERIAL INSTITUTE, 2120 PORT STREET, NEW ORLEANS – The Material Institute is a nonprofit center that focuses on learning and collaboration from art to music to gardening. The institute will host NPI in a cool and comfy indoor space to break down seed heads, pack giveaway seeds into envelopes, put info stickers on the envelopes, and enjoy “Native Seeds: Supplying Restoration,” a documentary about the native seed supply chain in the western United States. No sign-up required. Meet at the community garden across the street from the Material Institute; seed packing and documentary screening will be inside the institute (see photos above; institute entrance is the door on the right with the red outline in the photo).

2025-09-09 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
Note that pulling and pruning now happens on second Tuesdays (previously on second Wednesdays) and that times are now 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, September 9, Pull & Prune 5:00-7:00 p.m. at Rosa F. Keller Library and Community Center (4300 South Broad in New Orleans). The garden features a bioswale with native plants and trees that reduces stormwater runoff, brightens the neighborhood with year-round blooms and pollinators, and showcases the teamwork of NPI, the New Orleans Public Library system, the Master Gardeners of Greater New Orleans, and the New Orleans Department of Parks and Parkways.

NPI MEETING WITH NATURE WALK & PLANT PROPAGATION WORKSHOP
2025-09-20 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
The Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association is going all in on native plants! This beautiful historic neighborhood wants to increase biodiversity and green space one block at a time, so NPI has been invited to help residents learn about ethically collecting and propagating native seeds. As always, anyone and everyone (NPI member or not) is welcome to attend the meeting and to share native plants and seeds.
Meet at ST. PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH, 2624 BURGUNDY STREET, NEW ORLEANS
9:00-10:30 a.m. Urban nature walk with NPI Board Member Helen Sierminski, who’ll introduce us to birds, plants, and people.
10:30 a.m.-noon Plant propagation workshop led by Ellie of New Orleans City Park Pelican Greenhouse: inland sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) and blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum) seeds and beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) cuttings.
Bring your own seed tray and or pots, if you can.

Fall Garden Show in New Orleans
2025-10-04 09:00 - 18:00 (America/Chicago)
The New Orleans Fall Garden show will take place for one day, Saturday, October 4th, 2025 in City Park.
The Botanical Garden will be alive with gardening gurus from all over the southeast. The event features 50+ vendors exhibiting common and exotic plants as well as various gardening paraphernalia.

NPI MEETING WITH MIYAWAKI MICROFOREST TOUR GARDEN OF THE 21st CENTURY
2025-10-11 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
The garden’s Bonnie-Kate Walker will guide a walk through the 3,000-square-foot Miyawaki microforest, now in its first year of growth in the Lower Ninth Ward. The garden is a condensed bottomland hardwood ecoregion with cypress, tupelo, live oak, and hackberry. This small but mighty native forest restoration project is a community-led effort that serves as a research model for future climate resilience projects. Here’s a sneak peek at the microforest and more about its background and our guide. As always, anyone and everyone (NPI member or not) is welcome to attend the meeting and to share native plants and seeds.
2640 LAMANCHE, NEW ORLEANS

Pull & Prune will go on!
2025-10-14 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
Pull & Prune 5:00-7:00 p.m.on Tuesday, October 16th at the Lafitte Greenway Roundabout (Lafitte Greenway at Norman C. Francis Parkway in New Orleans) in preparation for planting on Thursday the 16th.

Planting at Lafitte Greenway Roundabout
2025-10-16 16:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
Thursday, October 16, Plant 4:00-7:00 p.m. at the Lafitte Greenway Roundabout (Lafitte Greenway at Norman C. Francis Parkway in New Orleans). The greenway is a 2.6-mile bike and pedestrian path that connects neighborhoods, serves as a transportation corridor, and features stormwater management practices. At the planting party NPI will help add 20 native species to the roundabout garden: the Greenway is about to get a whole lot greener! BONUS: The Crescent City Farmers Market happens on the Greenway at Lafitte Avenue and Norman C. Francis Parkway 3:00-7:00 p.m. on October 16 too!
