Aimee Lafleur: Silver Louisiana Certified Habitat

Aimee surpassed 50 species and earned an upgrade to silver! Here is the original text from her bronze certification in June 2023.

Aimee lives in a residential neighborhood in Lafayette. Her backyard has a Live Oak, that if registered with the Live Oak Society would be considered a Grand Master. They also have a water oak in our backyard. Because of these two trees and the small size of their backyard, they do not get much sun so they naturally have an abundance of what they previously thought were "weeds". Aimee is currently enrolled in the Acadiana Master Naturalist program and has learned so much about native plants and their benefits. She is now appreciating her grassless backyard so much more and has spent a lot of time identifying different native plants in her backyard. They only mow our backyard 2 times a year at the most.

Aimee also started a native garden in the front yard with freshly planted native plants that she received from the Urban Naturalist. This garden consists of some flowering native plants and other native plants that prefer more or full sun. Their front yard also has a good bit of naturally growing native plants which they previously considered "weeds". As of now the new bed that she installed is 13 x 3 feet or so. The plan is to expand this bed where the growing conditions are appropriate. While the plants in this new bed are still babies, they are healthy and growing. Aimee also spread a native wildflower seed mix in the bed and in another bed in the yard where there are many seedlings coming up and looking great. She has plans to upgrade to a silver level in the near future!