BROADCASTS.com

Babette Werner, committee chair of Festival des Fleurs de Louisiane, joins Discover Lafayette to discuss the upcoming annual Garden Show and Sale to be held on April 9, 2022, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Blackham Coliseum. Tickets are $5.00 and the first 300 people who attend will get a free sunpatien plant.







There is something for everyone, with children's planting activities, flower designs, and horticulture samples by the Lafayette Garden Club. The Orchid Society and Bonsai Society of Acadiana will have displays. Nel’s Creole Connection, Le Papillion Cajun Soul Food, and Sneaux to Geaux will have food trucks on site.   




There will be 70-75 booths inside and outside Blackham Coliseum offering a wide variety of native plants, shrubs, annuals, perennials, roses, daylilies, hibiscus, orchids, herbs, and much more.  Also available for sale are garden supplies and accessories, pottery, tools, gardening books and art, unique gifts, ornamental pieces, and a Festival t-shirt.



The public is invited to bring their own carts. There will be some available but if you have your own, you will not have to wait until one is free to use.




The Lafayette Parish Master Gardeners will give 4 presentations: 9:00 am: Pup Propagation of a Staghorn Fern; 10:00 am: Bromeliads, a winner for plant lovers; 11:00 am: Marcelle Bienvenu, (a master gardener and the famous chef and cookbook author), will talk about Herbs – the Culinary and Medicinal Uses of Herbs; and at 1:00 pm:  Installing your own Home Gardening Irrigation System (how to do it yourself for huge cost savings)



The Master Gardeners will also have an “Ask A Master Gardener” table where you can ask your gardening questions. If you have a weed, insect question, or have a plant id question, bring in a sample of the plant so that they can help with your problem.













New this year:  The Society for Louisiana Irises will be presenting their Louisiana Iris Show at the festival on Saturday. This is the perfect opportunity to view hundreds of Louisiana Iris blooms on display and the chance to purchase some for your yard. Society members will also be available to answer all of your questions and give information on growing Louisiana Irises! The iris group’s first meetings were at SLI (now UL-Lafayette in the early 1940s.









Everyone loves a raffle! Tickets are $5 and may be purchased at the event. The big prizes are a large patio table with 6 swivel chairs and an umbrella, a Gorilla gardening cart, a container from Girouards Nursery, and a beautiful galvanized can painted with Louisiana irises. There are many other smaller prizes and $1 tickets can be purchased for those.



The festival is the primary fund-raising event for the Ira Nelson Horticulture Center, part of UL Lafayette, to supplement the Center’s annual budget. The proceeds have gone for needed repairs and improvements, including central AC/Heat, floor replacement, greenhouse benches, irrigation, electrical work, and other projects. The Center has been a focus of UL Lafayette horticulture education for students, faculty, and the community since 1960.













The festival is the only fundraiser each year for the Ira Nelson Horticulture Center. Originally dedicated as the Ornamental Horticulture Center in 1960. Five years later the center was renamed to honor Professor Ira S. Nelson, who was instrumental in its design and construction.  The Center is now a part of the College of Geosciences.



The Ira Nelson Horticulture Center ("INHC") includes nearly 17,