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Bamboo Groves

Jungle Gardens
Avery Island, Louisiana

“You have been the great pioneer bamboo planter of America and posterity will give you the honor that is your due for the great work you have done, not only for the Southern States but for the American public at large.”
-Plant explorer David Fairchild to E.A. McIlhenny, October 1946.

Jungle Gardens is a 250-acre, privately-owned refuge and garden that was established by E.A. McIlhenny, artic explorer, naturalist, and conservationist.
Initially designed as a private garden, McIlhenny opened the property to the public in 1935. His collection included species from all over the world and became the basis of McIlhenny’s nursery, an important source for gardeners in the southeast during the decades leading up to World War II. The bamboo groves in Jungle Gardens are a particularly important feature of the collection as they include some of the earliest surviving introductions of that species to the United States. Threatened by recurring tropical storms as well as a lack of necessary financial means, the diversity of species within the groves has decreased significantly over the years even as the groves themselves thrive.

educational partners
Additional Sponsors

John A. Brooks, Inc. • The Brown Foundation • Charles Butt • The City of Charleston • Barb & George Cochran • Topher Delaney• Jungle Gardens, Inc. • Magnolia Plantation & Gardens • Marc Dutton Irrigation, Inc. • Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation • L. Cary Saurage II Fund • Jeff & Patsy Tarr • Seibert & Rice