Events

15th Anniversary | Arbor Day & Tree GiveawaySaturday, January 17th | 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Join the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens and Baton Rouge Green for a fun-filled day celebrating Arbor Day! 

Baton Rouge Green will host their annual tree giveaway, offering one free tree per household while supplies last.

Plant a tree in Burden Woods, track its growth with GPS, and help reforest native trees lost to hurricanes and drought. Enjoy family-friendly activities like a scavenger hunt, tree climbing, StoryTime in the Garden, ax throwing, and more! Plus, don’t miss the chance to meet Smokey Bear and explore educational exhibits on native trees.

Food trucks will be on-site with delicious food and beverages throughout the day.

This event is free, and no registration is required!

Wild Ones GBR will have an outreach table at Barton Arboretum.

Wild Ones GBR will have an outreach table at the 15th annual Arbor Day event!

Please contact [email protected] to sign up to volunteer!

Saturday, January 17th

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Park at the Rural Life Museum and catch the free hay ride or walk to Barton Arboretum.

Louisiana Wild Society is hosting their second annual bare root native tree giveaway on Saturday, January 17th from 11am-1pm at Circa 1857. There will be trees, coffee, antiques, cocktails & tunes!

In this special collaboration, Robin Wall Kimmerer, author, botanist, and founder of Plant Baby Plant, joins youth leader and Nurture Natives founder Esther Bonney for an intergenerational conversation about belonging, reciprocity, and native plant action. 

Together, they will explore questions such as:

How do we create opportunities for young people to have a voice and feel empowered, even when they are not homeowners or decision makers?What kinds of relationships and mentorships help people stay engaged in native plant work over decades?Why do stories, shared practices, and community invitations matter just as much as plant lists?

Robin and Esther will reflect on what invites people into this work, what keeps them here, and what elders and youth have to teach each other.

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!  

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! 

The Baton Rouge Botanic Garden Foundation will host a FREE Garden Discoveries event, Great Native Grasses, led by Amber King, Wild Ones Greater Baton Rouge Citizen Science Chair on April 11, 2026 at 10am. 

The presentation will cover the unique features of grasses, how to photograph and post grasses for identification in iNaturalist, and favorite species of native prairie grasses that will look great in your Louisiana landscape and provide ecological benefits.

The EBRPL registration link will be posted here when it is available.

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!