Dear IPPS Southern Region Members,
As we look forward to the 2026 IPPS Southern Region Annual Meeting, we are once again preparing for one of the most anticipated events of the meeting, the IPPS Southern Region Plant Auction.
The plant auction is much more than a fundraiser. It is a reflection of what makes IPPS Southern Region such a special organization.
The hallmark of our auction is the opportunity to acquire truly unique plant material and one-of-a-kind genetics. Rare selections, promising breeding lines, unusual species, and plants that may never be available through a traditional nursery or garden center routinely find their way to the auction. For plant enthusiasts, breeders, growers, researchers, and collectors, there is simply nothing quite like seeing what turns up each year.
But the auction can only be as good as the plants that our members are willing to share.
The success of the IPPS Southern Region Plant Auction depends entirely upon the generosity, creativity, and enthusiasm of our membership and meeting attendees. Every donated plant has the potential to become someone’s next favorite plant, a valuable addition to a breeding program, a new crop for a nursery, or simply the beginning of a lifelong fascination with something they have never encountered before.
This is also one of the ways that “Seek and Share” comes to life. We seek out new and exceptional plant material, and then we share it with one another. The auction provides a unique avenue for that exchange while generating funds that support the continued success of IPPS Southern Region and help provide opportunities for students and emerging horticultural professionals to participate in the organization.
As you prepare for the 2026 Annual Meeting, we encourage you to look around your greenhouse, nursery, research plots, garden, and breeding program and consider what you might bring to the auction. Have something unusual? Bring it. Have a promising selection? Bring it. Have a plant you have been growing for years that nobody else seems to have? Bring it!
Our goal is to make the 2026 IPPS Southern Region Plant Auction another memorable part of an already outstanding annual meeting and we need your help to make that happen.
If you have questions about donating plant material or need assistance with getting your items to the meeting, please do not hesitate to reach out. We are happy to help in any way we can.
- Please download the AUCTION FORM BELOW. Fill out the details and PRINT to streamline the submittal process. We thank you in advance!
Thank you for your continued support of IPPS Southern Region, and most importantly, thank you for continuing to Seek and Share!
Sincerely,
Andrew King, andrew.king@ag.tamu.edu
Bill Barr, wcbarr146@gmail.com
2026 Plant Auction Coordinators
Auction Location & Schedule
LOCATION: Dallas & Houston Rooms
AUCTION ITEM DROP-OFF
- Sunday, October 18: 4-8 PM
- Monday, October 19: Noon–9 PM
SILENT AUCTION
- Tuesday, October 20: 8AM–5:30 PM
LIVE AUCTION
- Tuesday, October 20: 7:00 PM
- Following the Awards Banquet
AUCTION CHECKOUT
- Tuesday, October 20: 9-11 PM