The Acadiana Native Plant Project Story-2016-2025

shared at the End of Season Celebration in June 2025

 

In 2016 Master Gardeners Sarah Schoeffler, Janice Eaton Akers, and Heather Warner-Finley attended the annual symposium at Hilltop Arboretum in Baton Rouge. Sarah had long been advocating for a “Wildlife Corridor” through Lafayette, so Dr. Doug Tallamy’s “Bringing Nature Home” message there really struck a chord. Sarah put together initial meetings based on her extensive network of contacts. It included (by Heather’s memory) Sarah, Bill Fontenot, Heather Baldwin, Larry Allain, Heather Warner-Finley, Jan Wyatt, and AJ Roeling. On a subsequent Master Naturalists trip, Heather and Janice discussed our Wildlife Corridor Project and Janice came on board. We specifically chose the name “Acadiana Native Plant Project” because we felt Project implied a task with a goal. Janice had previous non-profit experience and as our first president shepherded us through incorporation as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. A website and Facebook page were launched. 

 

By 2017 we had a Board of Directors and monthly meetings at the library. The group realized that there weren’t enough native plants locally, so we could not just talk about them and get people excited. We needed to grow plants. Bill introduced Janice to June Walker, one of the founders of the Sunset Herb Festival. June had just retired from her commercial nursery and was happy to help start up propagation. That small team grew the first ANPP plants to sell at the Sunset Herb Fest and Festival des Fleurs. They made their goal of $1000. Sadly, June passed away soon thereafter. Her family donated her greenhouse and library to ANPP. We moved the disassembled greenhouse temporarily to a member’s rental home. Janice heard that NUNU Art and Culture Collective was looking for a group who could make use of a 2-acre St. Martin Parish School Board property. After some leveling and clearing of the front half-acre by NUNU and ANPP volunteers, the June Walker Memorial Greenhouse and Demonstration Garden was dedicated. We also installed public demonstration gardens at Acadian Village, at Parkside Parc, and volunteered for years at Vermilionville’s Rain Garden. We have since let offsite demonstration projects sunset. 

 

2018 was our first year propagating in Arnaudville. Janice moved away, but not until new leadership was in place. That year we launched the newsletter and our propagation activities took off. Monthly meetings, potlucks, grants from the Louisiana Native Plant Society, public talks, more tables at events, and away we went! We began working in teams: Propagation, Education and Outreach, Collaboration and Demonstration, each with its own budget and coordinator. This allowed our scrappy volunteer teams to work efficiently and invest in things they needed for their work, including holding our first Yard-to-Habitat workshop, printing plant tags, and getting a toilet installed! In 2019 we continued to grow members, volunteers, and activities. Our sales kept getting bigger and we were invited to give more public talks and collaborate with sister organizations. 2020 put the brakes on things with COVID, but we masked up, continued our outdoor activities, and even had a drive-thru plant sale. COVID ushered in a wave of interest in native gardening that has not let up. In 2021 we were offered space in Frozard, where we still grow perennials. We also started buying larger plants from wholesale nurseries and began propagating prairie plants at the UL Ecology Center. We continued our Y2H workshops and added Prairies 101, and LNPS’s Louisiana Certified Habitat Program was launched. After a Strategic Planning Initiative, we had a clearer way forward. We installed irrigation, began the Native Garden Tour, and added a Plant of the Month and Advocate of the Month to the newsletter. In 2023 we got artsy and started our Native Plant of the Year art and t-shirts and got a brand new website launched. We also started the Satellite Grower Program. The Louisiana Wildlife Federation gave us the Outstanding Organization award in 2023, and the Bayou Vermilion Preservation Association named us the Visionary Nonprofit for 2024. In 2024 we got a grant from the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area to expand our footprint to expand our propagation area and establish the Teche Woods Nature Trail. Our newsletter added the popular What to Do this Month column.

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What is next for ANPP?

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