Jungle Gardens
6164 Avery Island Rd, New Iberia, LA
New Iberia, LA
A lush semi-tropical garden on a salt-dome island, laced with live oaks and camellias and home to a wading-bird sanctuary that helped save the snowy egret.
Jungle Gardens is a lush, semi-tropical garden covering much of Avery Island, the salt-dome rise near New Iberia best known for TABASCO sauce. Created in the early 1900s by Edward Avery McIlhenny, a naturalist and member of the sauce-making family, it winds through live oaks, camellias, azaleas, and bamboo along the island's bayous and lagoons.
The garden's most famous feature is Bird City, a sanctuary McIlhenny built to save the snowy egret from the plume hunters who had nearly wiped it out. Thousands of wading birds still nest there each spring, and the whole island, with its gardens, wildlife, and ancient statuary, makes one of the most enchanting stops in all of Cajun Country.
What Guests Love
- Live oaks, camellias, azaleas, and bamboo across a lush semi-tropical landscape
- Bird City, a nesting sanctuary alive with thousands of egrets in spring
- An ancient Buddha statue set in a quiet garden overlook
- Alligators, deer, and abundant birdlife along the bayous and lagoons
Worth Knowing
- There is a small crossing toll to drive onto the private island
- The egret rookery at Bird City is most spectacular in the spring nesting season
- The gardens pair naturally with the TABASCO factory tour on the same island
- South Louisiana is hot and humid in summer, so morning visits are most comfortable
Details
New Iberia, LA
Learn about Jungle Gardens
A garden built by a naturalist
Edward Avery McIlhenny, known as Ned, grew up on Avery Island and combined the family's business acumen with a lifelong passion for nature. In the early twentieth century he began developing the wilder parts of the island into a garden, importing plants from around the world and cultivating the camellias and azaleas for which the gardens are now renowned.
His work created a semi-tropical landscape unusual for the region, a mix of native Louisiana oaks and marsh with exotic plantings from Asia and beyond. The gardens he shaped remain a living expression of his curiosity and love of the natural world, open for visitors to wander by car and on foot.
Bird City and the egrets
In the late 1800s the snowy egret had been hunted nearly to extinction for its delicate white plumes, prized for women's hats. Alarmed by the birds' decline, McIlhenny gathered a small number of young egrets, raised them, and built artificial nesting platforms over a pond on the island to give them a safe place to breed.
The birds returned and multiplied, and the sanctuary he created, known as Bird City, grew into one of the great success stories of American wildlife conservation. Each spring thousands of egrets and other wading birds still crowd the rookery to nest, a swirling white spectacle that draws birdwatchers from far away and stands as a monument to early conservation.
Wildlife and quiet corners
Beyond the rookery, the gardens teem with life. Alligators glide through the lagoons, deer step among the oaks, and countless birds fill the trees and marsh edges. Driving and walking the winding lanes, visitors move through changing scenes of forest, water, and open garden, each with its own creatures and moods.
The gardens also hold surprises, chief among them a centuries-old Buddha statue given to McIlhenny and set in a serene garden overlook. These quiet corners, framed by moss-hung oaks and blooming camellias, give the gardens a contemplative beauty beyond their natural richness.
An island of salt and sauce
Jungle Gardens shares Avery Island with the TABASCO factory, and the two attractions together tell the fuller story of the McIlhenny family and their remarkable island. The same salt dome that made the sauce possible also lifts the land high enough to grow the gardens' lush plantings above the surrounding marsh.
For visitors, the island offers a rare combination of industry, horticulture, and wildlife in one place. A day here might pair a garden drive and a visit to Bird City with the factory tour, revealing how one family shaped a green jewel of Cajun Country over more than a century.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near New Iberia
TABASCO Factory
On the island
The historic home of TABASCO sauce, with a factory tour, pepper fields, and museum.
New Iberia
About 10 miles northeast
A historic sugarcane town on Bayou Teche, home to the Shadows-on-the-Teche house.
Rip Van Winkle Gardens
About 12 miles north
Gardens and a historic home on Jefferson Island, site of the famous Lake Peigneur collapse.