Some people look at trees and see big trunks with branches and leaves. Maybe others cherish the shade they provide on a hot day. When Jim Foret sees a tree, he sees an arborescent monument and an experience to be lived. Nevermind the commodities trees afford and the oxygen they emit, for Foret, each tree is special and offers something appreciable, if not aesthetically than historically.

Foret knows his trees, and he has the reputation and know-how to prove it. When it comes to just about anything nature-related in New Iberia, Foret gets his hands dirty. A horticulturist and gardening extraordinaire, Foret, 61, has planted countless trees throughout the area and assisted numerous people in their gardening endeavors.

In much the same way Foret appreciates trees, those closest to him cherish his unique personality and the calming vibe he evinces. One tree in the area was even named after him: the Foret Oak near the St. Peter branch — no pun intended — of the Iberia Parish Library.

03/18/09 Jim Foret, tree hugger extraordinaire, and proud of it. Lee Ball/The Daily Iberian Advertisement

“While on the outside you meet him as an arborist, he’s an artist on the inside,” said Anne Darrah, a local graphic designer and dear friend of Foret’s for more than 20 years. “He brings art to people, and not just the obvious things. He has a good sense of inclusion. Jim is a member of the community that should be treasured.”

Asked to describe himself in one word, Foret blurted “calm,” a response echoed by many of his friends.

“Sometimes we ask him if he still has a pulse because of how low his voice is on the phone when he answers,” Darrah added.

Foret’s day starts around 4:30 each morning. He spends several minutes meditating and sending energy to people, friends say.

“He has a Zen-like calmness that transfers to the rest of us,” is how Curtis Darrah, Anne’s husband, summed up his friend’s personality. 

Foret takes his first cup of coffee each morning with a little milk, always with his wife, Paula, who gets her first cup in bed. Foret and his wife have been married 40 years and have four grownup children. Paula teaches fourth grade at North Lewis Elementary and is “the best fourth-grade teacher in many parishes” if you ask her husband.

The two of them don’t watch much television, but Foret commutes each day to Lafayette, where he teaches horticulture at ULL and has little free time. With the time he does have, Foret enjoys poetry.

He’s the kind of guy who could talk for hours about bugs or insects, friends say, and not bore someone. He’s very spiritual, but then, poetry also helps him in his practice of “news fasting.”

“The news depresses the crap out of me,” he said, a hint of exasperation in his voice. “There’s so much bad news. I know what’s going on around me. I don’t want to know how horribly we treat one another and how horribly we treat the environment.”

Around town, virtually everyone seems to have encountered Foret at some point. If nothing else, they’ve seen the trees he’s planted, many of which have already grown to be large.

“Everybody who lives in New Iberia eventually meets Jim Foret,” said Susan Hester Edmunds, a friend who said she shares Foret’s love of nature. “He’s a really integral part of the community.”

But for all his popularity, Foret actually isn’t from Acadiana. He was born in Ames, Iowa, before he moved with his family to Lafayette. His father taught horticulture at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (today’s ULL) and was dean of the college of agriculture there for a time.

Foret says his father instilled in him a love of plants and all things nature from an early age. 

“I was just immersed in it my whole life,” he said. “I’ve always known nursery people. I’ve always been around plant societies. Since before I can remember I’ve been around it. Trees are something very important to me.”

Foret also attended the university, earning a bachelor’s in horticulture of his own. After his undergraduate studies, Foret applied around the South for graduate schools but decided to head home to attend Iowa State University. He earned a master’s there in horticulture and returned to Louisiana when he found a job in a nursery in Folsom.

Foret said it was about 1972 when he moved to New Iberia and began working in nurseries here. With several years of experience under his belt, Foret accepted a job with the city in 1993 as superintendent of parks and recreation, a capacity in which he oversaw recreation programs and more than a dozen parks.

The job afforded him the opportunity for 11 years to stress the importance of parks in growing communities. He says abundant green space is a common denominator in many progressive areas around the country.

“I don’t think enough people appreciate green space in their community,” Foret said, adding parks don’t just have to be places for organized sporting events. “People need a place to hang out and walk their dogs.”

Foret has plenty of green space where he lives just across the St. Martin Parish line. At home, he tends to 13 chickens and has one cat. And then there’s his garden, of course.