Andree and Scott Griffin - Silver Louisiana Certified Habitat

Congratulations to Andree Griffin and her husband Scott for having their

Louisiana property Silver-Certified! Their place is a sprawling 22-acre piece of

rural paradise located a few miles east of Opelousas. Andree’s grandfather

purchased the original piece of property. Her mother, Mary Faith Wyble, inherited

a portion of that property, which she later passed on to Andree.

Mary Faith was also instrumental in Andree’s decision to certify and add native

plants to the property. In the last year of her mother’s life, Andree made it her

mission to take Mary Faith to places that she would enjoy. One of the places she

took Mary Faith was to Arnaudville for an ANPP plant sale. Mary Faith loved the

trip, and she was especially taken by all the American Beautyberry she saw there.

After that trip to Arnaudville, Mary Faith decided to begin working toward having

her property certified through the LCH program. Although Mary Faith did not live

to see that happen, Andree and Scott are completing Mary Faith’s plan to add

more native plants and eventually have the property gold certified to honor Mary

Faith.

Live oaks, which were planted by Andree’s grandfather, line the driveway to

Andree and Scott’s home. Much of the 22-acre property is wooded with American

Elm, Winged Elm, Honeylocust, Hackberry, Eastern Red Cedar, Willow Oak, Post

Oak, Water Oak, and Swamp Chestnut Oak. Roughleaf Dogwood, Giant

Ragweed, Wild Lettuce, and Giant Ironweed occur along the woodland edges,

and plants occupying the woodland understory include Dwarf Palmetto,

Basketgrass, Cherokee Sedge, and Thinfruit Sedge.

Andree and Scott will continue adding more native plants to reach their LCH goal

of gold certification. They also plan to remove Chinese Privet, Chinese Tallow,

and other invasive plants on the property and replace them with natives.

Thanks for Geauxing Native, Andree and Scott.