Our History and Our Purpose

The Folsom Native Plant Society was the master mind of a group of forward thinking individuals. Little did they know what their beloved St. Tammany Parish would be going through now, almost 20 years later.

Because of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the resulting swarm of development caused by the former residents of the severely damaged New Orleans area, our Statement of Purpose is more important now than it was in the late 1980's when the club was formed.

Preserving natural habitats for wildflowers and discouraging pollution of our water and ground has far reaching positive effects on our quality of life as humans as well as that of wildlife. A speech written by Ted Perry contains a statement attributed to Chief Seattle, chief of the Suquamish Tribes:

"Man did not weave the web of life - he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself...What is man without the beasts?... For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected."

We, the members of the Folsom Native Plant Society, hope to instill in others the importance of protecting our most basic resource, the native plants and the water and earth of our beautiful St. Tammany Parish.

Read now the story of the society's humble beginnings as told by Temae Theriot to Mary Ann McClellan.

The History of the Folsom Native Plant Society

The FNPS began in February, 1988. Temae Theriot, the Folsom Librarian, & Margaret Cambre were interested in submitting Folsom for the Clean City contest for the 85th Folsom Founder's Day celebration. As a vehicle for this they organized a "garden club." In three days they had all of the required paperwork submitted and the ball began rolling.

During this time Temae met John & Muriel Larkin and discovered a mutual passion for native plants. Temae, John and Margaret were not interested in becoming just another garden club so they decided to focus on native plants. With John's help and expertise, a meeting was set up in the Folsom Library with an original roster of 11 people. John Larkin, Temae Theriot, Lois and Vincent Gagliano and Naomi Odenwald are the 5 original members still in the club today. Within a short time interest grew as did the membership (from 6 to 50 members).

In the beginning, Naomi was the club photographer and she did it with a passion. Early on, she & Temae had the motto: "Watch Your Driving!" after many instances of driving the Folsom roads, spotting a plant and screeching to a halt. John Larkin has remained the President of the FNPS for over 15 years and was recently recognized with an award from the Louisiana Native Plant Society for his devotion to native plants.

The statement of purpose has remained the same from the first meeting until today:

To preserve and study native plants and their habitats; to educate people on the value of native plants and the need to preserve and protect rare and endangered species; to promote the propagation and use of native plants in the landscape; to educate people on the relationship between our native flora and wildlife.

To fulfill these purposes the meeting agendas have and continue to include native plant presentations, identification, propagation & speakers knowledgeable in these areas. The FNPS continues to focus on expanding plant knowledge & sending that consciousness to the outward community.

Contact Us

Email: folsomnativeplants@gmail.com

Postal Address: P. O. Box 1055, Folsom, LA 70437

For information about becoming a member of the FNPS,
click on the Join FNPS icon on the right.