NATIVE PLANT ADVOCATE of the Month: Anushka Bliss

Coming from California, we didn't speak so much of NATIVE plants as we did "drought tolerant" plants. I had a large Home Daycare that was 90% outdoors. I believe the success of my Daycare was due to the fact that we spent 90%. of our time in the big garden and play area. Kids love to be outside, even ages 1, 2, and 3.

Soon after retiring, I moved to Louisiana, basically because I love Zydeco; that and the cost of real estate. My first gardener was Taylor Lyons, a.k.a. "worm lady recycles." I was taking one of Taylor's worm workshops and somebody who had just finished the Master Naturalist class and was raving about the program, My sister Nel and I registered for the Acadian Master Naturalist class cohort of 2024. That was really our best introduction to Louisiana's ecosystems! Each field trip was filled with so many intelligent and like-minded folks who love the land and the prairies and the native plants that have evolved in this Mississippi riverbed soil.

I think we heard of ANPP through Louise Prejean, who was in our Master Naturalist cohort. Once we started volunteering, we kept coming. It has been about 2 years and we still enjoy learning from all the knowledgeable and kind people who work together to promote native plants.

We got our wild garden certified through the Louisiana Certified Habitat program and we recently upgraded from bronze to silver! The indispensable pollinators are big fans of our little prairie and garden; so are we. Thank you Acadiana Native Plants people!

Note from the Propagation team: Anushka is also an amazing baker and treats the Tuesday volunteers to something delicious every week!