Events

Designing with native plants isn’t just about what you grow, it’s about how you shape your space. In this hands-on workshop, Zoe Evans (Plan it Wild) and Heather Evans (Design Your Wild) guide you through the process of creating a cohesive yard plan that supports both your lifestyle and biodiversity.

Details coming soon! 

Friends of LSU Hilltop Arboretum Present the Annual Gardening Symposium:

Join Friends of Hilltop Arboretum for the 2026 Annual Symposium, featuring keynote speaker Jessi Bloom. Bloom will explore how to create functional landscapes rooted in ecological and permaculture principles, while incorporating sacred and healing spaces into gardens and outdoor environments. Attendees will gain practical insights, inspiration, and strategies to integrate sustainability, beauty, and habitat into everyday landscapes.

Sanctuary Garden Showcase
Following Jessi’s talk, attendees can explore our self-guided Sanctuary Garden Showcase, featuring local experts and vendors who bring permaculture and sanctuary garden principles to life. Participants can visit themed areas, meet experts, and discover inspiring ways to apply ecological and sanctuary garden design at home.

About Jessi Bloom

Jessi Bloom is a best-selling author, award-winning ecological landscape designer, and ISA Certified Arborist based in the Pacific Northwest. She is a passionate advocate for land access, food sovereignty, water security, and ecological conservation. Bloom is the author ofPractical Permaculture for Home Landscapes, Your Community and the Whole Earth and Creating Sanctuary: Sacred Garden Spaces, Plant-Based Medicine, and Daily Practices to Achieve Happiness and Well-Being.

Early Ticket Pricing through Dec. 31, 2025

Member - $75
Non-member - $85
Students - $45

Late Ticket Pricing Jan. 1-29, 2026

Member  - $85
Non-member - $95
Students - $50

Details coming soon! This will be a paid webinar with all proceeds supporting the Seeds for Education Program. 

The annual Louisiana Native Plant Conference, hosted by the Louisiana Native Plant Society, is chock full of presentations, vendors, exhibits, guided walks, workshops, field trips, a native plant auction and more!

The conference fee is $25 and there are housing and food options as well.

Details and registration will be announced at the end of the year.

Details coming soon! 

Wild Ones Greater Baton Rouge chapter is a partner for the world's largest annual biodiversity census, the City Nature Challenge. 

The Baton Rouge region is participating in this global citizen science event, and we need your help documenting our native plants and wild organisms in Southeast Louisiana.  

Over 800 other cities around the world are participating in this event. Let’s show off the Baton Rouge region's amazing wildlife diversity and unique ecosystems! The observations collected become open source data for anyone to use for education and research.

Taking part is easy!

- Find wildlife. It could be a bird, insect, plant or any other sign of life.
- Take a picture. Snap a photo of what you find with your smart phone or digital camera.
- Share! Upload your observation to iNaturalist.org or with the iNaturalist mobile app and it will be automatically added to the contest project.

Any observations made anywhere in Southeast Louisiana during the official event period will automatically count toward the challenge. (View the map of our competition area on the iNaturalist project.)

The timeline:

April 24-27 Take photos!

April 24-May 10 Identification period and time to finish uploading photos.

May 13 Results announced

Details coming soon! 

Details coming soon! 

Details coming soon!