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LSHR Annual Meeting & Plant Release

Saturday, March 16, 2024

The Louisiana Society for Horticultural Research (LSHR) has its beginnings in a plant collecting trip to search for new plant materials adaptable to Louisiana. Among those who were instrumental in bringing together the first members that composed the LSHR was Ms. U.B. Evans of Ferriday, Louisiana. In June and July of 1954, Ms. Evans called on persons who she felt would be interested in sending a plant collector to Bolivia. The response was enthusiastic and the Louisiana Society for Horticultural Research was officially organized at that July 1954 meeting. In August, Professor Ira S. Nelson set out for Bolivia. This trip became the first of many and the society has grown ever since. There are presently over 260 members, with more than 77,000 individual plants having been released.

The cooperation between UL Lafayette and the Society may not be unique but has certainly been of untold benefit to both. The University has furnished staff members for collecting trips, taken care of the plant materials brought back and prepared releases of these plants for each member to try in their gardens. The Society in turn has financed the collection trips and provided numerous research grants to the department, as well as, funded improvements to the center.

Contact the Society’s president for more information:

Rob Barry | (337) 277-9825