Wild Ones is proud to introduce a free to use, professionally designed, native garden plan specific to the Lafayette area ecoregion. The design was created with the premise that using native plants in landscaping can be beautiful, beneficial, and achievable for people of all skill levels and budgets.
Native plant communities do critical work supporting pollinators, providing food and habitat for wildlife, reducing erosion, mitigating flooding, sequestering carbon, conserving and purifying water, repairing soil, and enhancing the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of people of all ages.
From 2001 to 2017, the United States lost a football field’s worth of natural area every 30 seconds and if these trends continue, an analysis conducted by Conservation Science Partners published in 2019 determined that a South Dakota-sized expanse of natural places will disappear between now and 2050.
Respected late ecologist E.O. Wilson stated fervently in a 2016 article for the New York Times “Only by the preservation of much more natural habitat than previously envisioned can extinction be brought close to a sustainable level. The only way to save upward of 90% of the rest of life is to vastly increase the area of refuges…”
Doug Tallamy, Wild Ones’ Lifetime Honorary Director, University of Delaware entomologist and author of “Nature’s Best Hope” stresses that “we can no longer leave conservation to the conservationists.” Native plant gardens in the private and public spaces of our own communities are our best hope for saving our environment. He pronounces that “we must now act collectively to put our ecosystems back together again.”
Wild Ones Executive Director Jen Ainsworth explained, “It’s crucial that we re-examine our approach to stewarding the spaces we own (our yards), as well as the public spaces in our communities. We need to adopt landscaping methods that are sustainable and promote the health and wellbeing of all forms of life. We hope our native garden plans inspire, encourage, and motivate individuals throughout the United States to make this important shift in their approach to landscaping. Nature is depending on the participation of all of us.”
The Lafayette design was created by Dona Weifenbach, a lifelong naturalist and active promoter of native plants. In 1981, she started Sunset Landscaping, through which she promoted the use of native plants until she returned to work in 1991. After earning an M.S. in Biology with a focus on wetland loss, Weifenbach worked in coastal restoration for the next 20 years. She worked with a team to develop the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) and later became manager of the program for the state. Today, she is a member of the Cajun Prairie Preservation Society, Louisiana Native Plant Society, and recently served a term as president of Acadiana Native Plant Project (ANPP).
The Lafayette design is a part of a larger initiative (Wild Ones Native Garden Designs Program) to create free, beautiful, nature friendly, native garden plans in a variety of ecoregions across the United States. The program, which is supported by a grant from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust, currently provides designs for the ecoregions of Boston, Chattanooga, Chicago, Columbia River Basin, Denver/Front Range, Grand Rapids, Greensboro, Lafayette, Las Cruces, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Portland, Princeton, St. Louis, Tallahassee, Toledo, Tucson and Washington, DC. The designs can be downloaded from Wild Ones’ website: nativegardendesigns.wildones.org.
The designs incorporate a variety of region-specific native plants that provide intrigue throughout the growing season and allow people to take an incremental approach in implementation, adding new areas and native plant species as time and funds permit. The designs and plant lists can be conveniently downloaded and printed making it easy to find plants at a local nursery. The nativegardendesigns.wildones.org website also features a growing list of nationwide nurseries that are great sources for obtaining native plants.
In addition to providing free, region-specific, native garden design templates, Wild Ones achieves our mission by supporting the grassroots efforts of 100+ nationwide Wild Ones chapters representing over 8,000 members in 30 states, providing resources and online learning opportunities that are free and open to the public, awarding Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education grants that engage youth in planning, planting and caring for educational native plant landscapes and publishing a quarterly award-winning digital journal featuring valuable native plant information and resources.
Joining a Wild Ones chapter can provide valuable support and camaraderie along your native landscaping journey. Wild Ones has three chapters in Louisiana. Reach out to a nearby chapter about how you can get involved:
Wild Ones Western Gulf Plain Chapter serves communities in central Louisiana and southeast Texas.
https://westerngulfplain.wildones.org/, native@camtel.net
Wild Ones Greater Baton Rouge Chapter is centered in East Baton Rouge and serves East and West Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston, East Feliciana and West Feliciana, St. Helena and Tangipahoa parishes and surrounding communities in the Loess Plains region of southern Louisiana.
https://greaterbatonrouge.wildones.org/, wildonesgbr@gmail.com
Wild Ones Pontchartrain Basin (Seedling) is based in Pelican Park on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. This chapter serves communities in St. Tammany and Washington parishes and adjacent areas.
https://pontchartrainbasin.wildones.org/, wildonespontchartrainbasin@gmail.com
To see a full list of Wild Ones chapters, visit: https://wildones.org/chapters/.
Wild Ones depends on membership fees, donations and gifts from individuals and businesses to help heal the Earth, one landscape at a time. To become a member, visit Wild Ones’ website at wildones.org. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter at @wildonesnative and @wildonesnativeplants.
