(06/16/26) ST. LOUIS, Mo. — LSU AgCenter horticulturist Joe Willis, also known as “Dr. Joe,” loves helping people grow plants. And the number of awards he’s won this year attests to how good he is at it.

Willis most recently won the National Garden Club’s Award of Excellence, their highest honor, in May, at the annual convention in St. Louis, Missouri. He’s the first Louisianan ever to win the award in the organization’s nearly 100-year history, and some of his fan base followed him to the event.

“It's quite an honor, and I thought, ‘Wow, baby!’” exclaimed Willis. “Some members of the Shady Oaks Garden Club in River Ridge, the ones who nominated me, were very excited and went to nationals because I was getting the award.”

Willis, originally from North Carolina, received a botany degree from North Carolina State and then a Ph.D. in plant pathology from the University of California. After working on aquaponics and tilapia aquaculture projects at the University of the Virgin Islands, he continued working as a research scientist.

“I was a molecular geneticist, kind of a gene jockey,” he said. “I worked with a startup company in New Jersey, developing methods of upcycling waste — including the development of an automated vermicomposting system.”

For the past 10 years, Willis has been working as an LSU AgCenter horticulture extension agent in Orleans Parish. This year, he won two Louisiana Garden Club Federation awards and a Louisiana County Agricultural Agents Association prize before accepting his National Garden Club honor.

But, Willis says, regardless of the awards, he always feels rewarded.

“My favorite is whenever a home gardener or business owner comes to me with an issue, and I help them solve it,” he reflected. “That's the real satisfaction, and they are appreciative.”

Besides speaking at garden clubs, teaching master gardener classes and giving individualized horticulture advice, Willis has also continued to contribute gardening guidance in other unique ways.

He appears three times a month on TV stations in the New Orleans area — Fox 8 WVUE-TV and WWL Channel 4. Additionally, he is a co-originator and regular contributor to the well-received, award-winning quarterly magazine, GNO Gardening, which started during the Coronavirus outbreak in 2020.

During that time, there was a spike in public interest in growing gardens.

Since interaction with the community was stifled, Willis and fellow horticulture agents Chris Dunaway (St. Charles Parish) and Anna Timmerman (Jefferson Parish) created an online home gardening course.

It was so popular, more than 35,000 people — many from other parts of the country and some from faraway places like Australia — registered for the certification classes.

“The Armed Forces contacted me, asking if they could use the course, and that was pretty awesome,” he said. “The course is still having an effect.”

Not surprisingly, Joe Willis remains a highly recognizable personality in the New Orleans area.

“Some people recognize me on the street,” he said. “I see my job as helping people become better gardeners; It's a passion.”

“Dr. Joe’s” passion for effectively educating the public has earned him awards but helping gardeners every day continues to be his greatest reward.

Joe Willis gives remarks after receiving the National Garden Clubs, Inc. Award of Excellence at the National Garden Clubs Annual Convention in St. Louis, Missouri on May 6, 2026. Photo provided by Joe Willis/LSU AgCenter

Joe Willis receives the National Garden Clubs, Inc. Award of Excellence at the National Garden Clubs Annual Convention in St. Louis, Missouri on May 6, 2026. Photo provided by Joe Willis/LSU AgCenter