IPPS Southern Region: To Seek and to Share with Brie Arthur
S02:E06

IPPS Southern Region: To Seek and to Share with Brie Arthur

Southern United States
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Episode description

IPPS Southern Region: To Seek and to Share

Episode Description

In 1951, nurseries still grew plants in tin cans, and information on rooting hormones was hard to come by. The society that formed to close that gap, the International Plant Propagators Society, is now the International Plant Production Society, and its Southern Region leads every IPPS region in the world for membership. Dr. Ping Yu sits down with Brie Arthur, “Brie the Plant Lady,” International Delegate and Communications Director for IPPS Southern Region, to explain how a 75-year-old organization keeps drawing in the next generation.

Brie has been part of IPPS for more than a decade, and she traces nearly every mentor in her career back to it: Fred Davies, David Creech, Tom Saunders, Tom Yeager. She walks through the region’s scholarships, including the Coach Vince Dooley Student Scholarship and the Margie Jenkins First-Time Conference Attendee Scholarship, and tells the story of the 2014 Early Career Exchange that sent her to Denmark. Ping adds her own memory of meeting Tom Yeager at the 2019 student competition and feeling, in her words, like she had met a celebrity.

The conversation keeps returning to one idea: plants bring people together, but the people are the reason anyone gathers. Ping and Brie make the case for showing up in person, for the talk on the bus and the conversation at dinner that no webinar reproduces. Whether you grow plants for a living, teach horticulture, or picked it up in retirement, there is a seat for you. The next meeting is in Houston, October 2026.

Listen Time: 48:07 Follow Along with the Transcript

In This Episode

Guest

Brie Arthur (“Brie the Plant Lady”), International Delegate and Communications Director, IPPS Southern Region. A Purdue-trained horticulturist who was introduced to IPPS as an undergraduate, Brie now focuses on consumer horticulture and food gardening, translating technical nursery research for master gardeners and home growers.

Host: Dr. Ping Yu, UGA Department of Horticulture, and a member of the IPPS Southern Region board.

Main Topics

  • Welcome and host introduction (0:00)
  • Meet Brie the Plant Lady, and finding your people at IPPS (0:59)
  • What IPPS is, and the “seek and share” mission (6:16)
  • How the Southern Region rose to lead in membership (11:48)
  • Scholarships and the Early Career Exchange (20:55)
  • Why the meeting happens in person (28:46)
  • Bridging academia and industry (32:41)
  • The next decade for the Southern Region (39:36)
  • Where to find Southern Region IPPS (43:47)

Key Highlights

  • IPPS runs seven regions worldwide, three of them in North America: Eastern, Western, and Southern. The Southern Region now leads all regions globally in membership.
  • At the last meeting, 60 percent of attendees were under 40, and more than half were women. Brie contrasts that with earlier years, when the women at meetings were often sent on separate shopping tours instead of nursery visits.
  • The region gave a record 20 scholarships this year and offered five Margie Jenkins scholarships to mark the fiftieth anniversary.
  • Membership is $150 a year, and full attendance at the four-day annual meeting runs under $600 before travel and hotel.
  • Southern Region membership sits at 262. Brie’s 2026 goal is to reach about 500, one member bringing in one member.
  • Meetings rotate through the region: Orlando in 2025, Houston in 2026, Charlottesville in 2027, with the next international tour planned for 2030.

Key Quotes

Brie Arthur: “The mission of IPPS is to seek and share plant knowledge globally, and it is a global network of plant production professionals.”

Brie Arthur: “Plants are what unite us, but it’s the time we spend together that is what truly matters.”

Brie Arthur: “I was the recipient of the exchange program in 2014, and I went to Denmark, and it completely changed my life.”

Dr. Ping Yu: “This organization has lifted me up, and now it’s time for me to pay it forward.”

Brie Arthur: “The future is green.”

Educational Highlights

From Propagators to Production. IPPS kept its acronym but changed its name from the International Plant Propagators Society to the International Plant Production Society. The reason is structural: a modern nursery might specialize only in young plants, or only in growing those plants on to finish. “Production” covers the whole cycle rather than one step of it.

Why 1951 mattered. When IPPS started, auxins and other natural plant hormones were just being discovered, and there was no easy way to share rooting techniques without a society and its published proceedings. The original purpose was to let academics get propagation information to a young, growing nursery profession.

Propagation, plainly. A nursery produces plants from seed, cutting, or graft. Improved, well-bred genetics are often patented, which is part of why young-plant nurseries exist: they can manage the royalties before the plant moves down the production line.

Substrates and particle size. Brie points listeners to the soilless substrate research of Dr. Jeb Fields (formerly LSU, now University of Florida) and Dr. Brian Jackson. Particle size governs how long a mix holds water and fertilizer. Stratified substrates layer different particle sizes for better performance, but they need multiple potting machines, so commercial adoption is slow. Home container gardeners can use the same idea without the machinery.

Hot pots and sun scald. Dr. Jeremy Pickens gave a talk this year on how dark containers heat the root zone as summers get hotter. White containers keep roots cooler, which is why Brie tells home growers to use ornamental white pots for container tomatoes to reduce sun scald.

Southern native trees and shrubs. Margie Jenkins built one of Louisiana’s most important nurseries specializing in southern natives, a category Brie says still needs more development.

Resources & Links

  • Website: bandbpod.com
  • IPPS Southern Region: ipps.org, then Regions tab, then Southern North America
  • Facebook: IPPS Southern Region
  • Instagram: @IPPS_Southern_Region
  • YouTube: IPPS Videos
  • Newsletter: sign up from the Southern Region homepage
  • Scholarships (all deadlines June 1): Coach Vince Dooley Student Scholarship (two- or four-year students; covers travel, lodging, full registration, plus $250 spending money); Margie Jenkins First-Time Conference Attendee Scholarship; Charles Student Research Competition (renamed to honor both Charlie Parkerson and Dr. Charles Gilliam of Auburn); Early Career Exchange Program; and the Vivian Munday scholarship, honoring one of Southern horticulture’s early female professors
  • Membership: $150 per year; full annual meeting under $600, not including travel and hotel
  • Next meeting: Houston, Texas, October 18–22, 2026 (local site chair Paul Winski)
  • Looking ahead: Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2027; international tour in 2030

About Blooms and Beyond

Blooms and Beyond explores plant history, culture, and management through the lens of science. Whether you’re a commercial grower seeking practical solutions, a student exploring careers in horticulture, or simply someone who loves plants and their stories, there’s something here for you. Hosted by Dr. Ping Yu of the University of Georgia, each episode features interviews with experts who share enchanting stories, cutting-edge research, and practical wisdom from the world of horticulture.

Your benefit: After each episode, commercial growers will have at least one useful tip for their operation, and plant enthusiasts will have an interesting fact to share. That’s how we spread plant power to more people and make our environment a little better.

Credits

Host: Dr. Ping Yu Producer: Rich Braman Guest: Brie Arthur, International Delegate and Communications Director, IPPS Southern Region

Episode Release Date: July 19, 2026 Episode Length: 48:07

“Till next time, stay healthy and go plants!” 🌱

0:00Welcome to Blooms and Beyond
0:59Meet Brie the Plant Lady
2:56Mentors and the Tom Yeager story
6:16What is IPPS? Seek and share
9:00From Propagators to Production
11:48Charlie Parkerson founds the Southern Region
14:07Recession, Donna Foster, and rebound
16:20Women rising in horticulture
20:55Scholarships: Dooley, Jenkins, and Charles
24:19Early Career Exchange and Denmark
28:46Why the meeting happens in person
32:41Bridging academia and industry
37:51Research that reaches home gardeners
39:36The next decade: doubling membership
43:47Where to follow; save the date for Houston
47:12Closing and credits