On the Cover: Rewilding
Images by Matthew Herron, Paul Christiansen, and Sweet Fern Landscapes
For years, our annual Outdoors & Gardening issue has been one of Country Roads readers’ favorite editions, planting seeds of inspiration across gorgeous spreads blooming with photographs of local gardens, deep dives into landscaping trends, and memories of our historical relationship with the soil and its riches. And for years, in our reporting, we’ve been hearing increasingly insistent whispers about a trend that’s taking over the region, in spaces of gardening and in spaces of conservation alike: renaturalization—remembering the land as it used to be, and allowing it to gracefully return to its origins.
This year, we decided to dedicate our issue to this theme of rewilding, exploring the concept’s historical roots on one of the country’s most iconic property’s in Kristy Christiansen’s feature story on Longue Vue. We touch base with scientists Malcolm Vidrine and Charles Allen, who have been working for years on the project of resurrecting Louisiana’s Cajun prairie ecosystem. And we reach out to local native plant champions at the Acadiana Native Plant Project and the Greater New Orleans Native Plant Initiative, organizing their expertise and advice into a fool-proof beginner’s guide to rewilding your own backyard.