JARED BARNES is an award-winning professor of horticulture at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He also hosts The Plantastic Podcast and publishes a weekly e-newsletter called plant•ed, both of which can be found at his website, https://www.meristemhorticulture.com. At home, he gardens with wife Karen and daughter Magnolia.
SCOTT BEUERLEIN: Jared, you are known as a very young, passionate professor of horticulture who has a wonderful connection with your students. Tell us how you came to be in your position.
JARED BARNES: There’s a photograph of me, four or five years old, out hoeing corn and tomatoes in my garden. And I’m a lot skinnier because I haven’t eaten as much ice cream then as I have now. I loved the natural sciences as a kid.
My great-grandfather really inspired me to garden more. My parents both worked days, and so we would go up to his house, and I would work outside in his garden. He would push the tiller, and I would follow behind raking out his footsteps.
He died when I was 13, and I started pursuing my own knowledge, looking through gardening books or on the internet. I joined a local Master Gardener class when I was 15. My mom had to drive me. Most people thought that she was the one taking the class, and I was just tagging along.
I met Carol Reese through that class, and she was an early mentor of mine. I learned about the Perennial Plant Association. The PPA definitely helped propel me into the world of horticulture—in 2007 I applied for and received their student scholarship, which covers all expenses related to attending the PPA National Symposium. On that trip, I met Stephanie Cohen, Janet Draper, Dan Heims and more. And people gave me advice about doing an internship at The Scott Arboretum and going to North Carolina State University, pursuing grad school—and the rest is history.
SB: Meeting Carol Reese, interning at The Scott Arboretum and then going to NC State. That’s already a great resume!
Yeah, I’m very blessed. Sometimes parents tell you to become a doctor, a lawyer,
