SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Clover Street, Crepe Myrtle Circle, Blue Spruce Drive, and Blueberry Lane are just a few of the old street names in Shreveport that point toward the city’s ecological history. But did you know that street names, both old and new, can be a blueprint for re-greening old cities and towns?
Creating green spaces in old cities can be an expensive endeavor, particularly in the poverty-stricken American South. But when city planners and massive budgets aren’t possibilities, cities and even small towns in rural areas can easily create simple environmental plans by driving around town and looking at street names.
And there’s an important reason why such a thing matters, too.
Shreveport doesn’t have a Climate Action Plan yet
Back in 2008, Chicago created and began to implement a comprehensive climate action plan to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions the city was producing. Their goal was to cut carbon levels from 1990 by a massive 80%. And they decided to become a zero-emissions city by the year 2050.
Chicago is now 59% of the way.
The goal for many American cities that are actively trying to stop climate change is to reduce 1990 emissions levels. Most CAP cities want to be either at or near zero emissions by 2050.
Little Rock, Arkansas, has a Sustainability Action Plan. So does Dallas, Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana.
Shreveport does not–or at least not yet, anyhow.
It’s estimated that it will take somewhere between $300 billion and $50 trillion to end climate change worldwide. Climate Action Plans cost a lot of money, and money is one thing that few Southern cities have.
But that doesn’t mean that Shreveport can’t start thinking about the future–especially when we have literal signs that point us in the right direction.
How street signs can change everything
No two people completely agree on how to tackle the massive issue of climate change. But there is an incredible product that can help fight climate change. It’s so tiny that it can easily fit in the palm of your hand, yet it’s capable of absorbing 48 lbs of CO2 every year. It’s called a tree seed or nut, and by the time a hardwood tree turns 40 years old, it will have sequestered a literal ton of carbon dioxide. Trees also reduce soil erosion, filter water, conserve energy, provide habitat, promote biodiversity, help control pests, and offer shade for those who leave their sunscreen at home.
When you plant native trees and other native plants that are not demanding on our local environment, those native trees, plants, and flowers will automatically replant themselves over and over and over again.
Re-greening without monocultures
Lauren Jones, the Executive Director of Shreveport Green, said she loves the idea of planting certain species based on road names, but she also wants to encourage individuals to consider the importance of biodiversity and the harm of monocropping, especially with exotic species.
“At the turn of the late 19th century, colonialism had a stronghold on the native culture, land, and settlements of our state,” said Jones. “As their ethnocentric ideologies spread, the industrial and agricultural revolution shifted society’s perception of the relationship our native ancestors had with nature.”
Jones said that while the Caddo tribe lived for centuries in symbiosis with the land, their relationship to Earth was deemed primitive by the colonizers. Instead, the settlers used exotic plants shipped from overseas as markers to denote status with no consideration toward how they would affect the environment.
“For instance,” said Lauren, “Crepe Myrtles were status symbols for the upper class since they were much harder to procure than our native shrubs like Dogwood and Redbud trees, which were abundant in our untouched landscapes.”
Jones explained that for nearly a century, and up to the present day, many of these ethnocentric ideologies stood and still stand.
“We can observe the historic status of certain streets based on the use of exotic vs. native species. When exotic plants were introduced into our environment, there was a marked chain of events that often hurt the systems that were already in place, especially if they were monocropped (planted ad nauseam with nothing else around). Many of these exotics are considered invasive today and wreak havoc on our system as a whole.”
And so the idea of using street names to re-green old cities, towns, and villages works, but only to a certain degree.
Jones said that using street signs to regreen Shreveport is a good way to start, and here are a few examples of street names that can come to life in three-dimension.
Chinquapin Drive
Chinquapin Drive is located off of Ellerbe Road and sits quite close to Bayou Pierre in Shreveport. The street can easily be planted with chinquapins, which are a dwarf chestnut tree that was almost completely wiped out in the United States. In fact, the Ozark chinquapin (which can easily grow in Shreveport) was almost lost entirely after a chestnut blight in North America in the early 1900s.
Visit the Center for Plant Conservation‘s website if you’d like to know more about Ozark Chinquapin’s story, including how to purchase young trees to plant on Shreveport’s Chinquapin Drive.
You can even join a club that celebrates the Ozark Chinquapin, also known as Castanea ozarkensis.
Autumn Oaks Lane
One Shreveport street, located in Hidden Trace off of Norris Ferry Road, has a name that brings images of autumn leaves to mind. Autumn Oaks Lane is the perfect spot to plant Oak trees known for their fall foliage, such as the Pin Oak which can be purchased from the Arbor Day Foundation for as low as $9.99. White Oaks and Swamp
White Oaks are gorgeous, too, and are also inexpensive.
Also consider buying other oaks with gorgeous autumn colors, such as the Sawtooth Oak, the Bur Oak, the Black Oak, and the Scarlet Oak.
And if enough people buy these oak trees that are gorgeous in autumn, Shreveport’s Autumn Oaks Lane can truly become Autumn Oaks Lane.
Cat Tail Pointe and Wisterian Way
Cat Tail Pointe in Shreveport is located off of Wisterian Way near Southern Trace Parkway, and there’s no doubt that Wisterian Way could be the street where people take family photos when Wisteria is in bloom each spring.
Cat Tails, also known as Typha latifolia, have a beauty and practicality that is all their own. They’ve been called “the supermarket of the swamp” because there are so many uses for this plant! First of all, they look like corn dogs that have baked just a bit too long in the toaster oven. That’s a good trick to play on kids, which they tend to think of as hysterical–or maybe that’s just my family’s weird sense of humor.
Cat Tails, “queue de chat” if you want to go back to our region’s French history, were once used for making cane chairs. And though it’s easier to buy a cane chair at a discount store, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper to just plant cat tails and then make your own chairs.
The roots of cat tails can be dried and turned into excellent flour. The stalks at the base of the leaves are edible and called “Cawsack asparagus” in other parts of the world. Oh, and the leaves can make mats and baskets.
It’s said that Native Americans used the stalks of the flowers as shafts for arrows.
Cat Tails are native to our area, too! And you can buy 50 cat tail seeds for $3 on Amazon. It’s such a bargain that you can buy a whopping 5000 seeds for $300. Drop your gorgeous seeds along the banks of waterways along northwest Louisiana during early fall, when the cattails usually go to seed, and let nature run its course.
It’s surprisingly inexpensive to be an environmental hero!
Acacia Lane
There are two native species of acacia that you can grow on Shreveport’s Acacia Lane.
Acacia Lane is located off Ridgecrest Drive, somewhat close to Brush Bayou. Plant Acacia farnesiana (Huisache) or Acacia angustissima (Prarie acacia) throughout the mid-century neighborhood and watch property values on the entire street increase.
Acacias are a plant that’s almost irresistible to touch. The Fern acacia has feathery leaves and pretty little flowers.
The plant grows up to three feet tall, and the flowers attract butterflies between June and September. And because it’s native, you don’t need to water it unless we’re in a terrible drought. And even then, it’s probably more adapted to being on these lands than humans are in 2024.
If you’re wondering, you can buy them online for only $12 each.
Native plants are so inexpensive and easy to propagate that no matter your income level, you can afford to landscape your entire street with native plants!
Cedar Grove
Cedar Grove isn’t a street in Shreveport, but it is a neighborhood. And it’s also the location where–you guessed it–a massive cedar grove once stood.
Replanting Cedar Grove is easy. You don’t need to fill out a massive government form to make this project happen, either.
You just need to buy some native cedar trees and get to planting. Asking your neighbors if it’s okay if you buy and help them plant native cedar trees is a neighborly gesture, too. They can return the favor by buying cedar trees for the next yard down. It’s like getting in line at McDonalds or Starbucks and finding that the car in front of you paid your ticket, so if you’re a pay-it-forward kind of person then you should consider starting the Cedar Grove replanting project.
Eastern Red Cedars are native to northwest Louisiana and east Texas, and they’re such a lovely tree! Can you imagine if the cedars of Cedar Grove were decorated with ornaments at Christmas? Because that’s the sort of thing that makes the holidays feel even more special.
Buy Shreveport’s native Red Cedar (Eastern Red Cedar) for as low as 99 cents at Cold Stream Farm.
It’s cheap to make Cedar Grove a grove of cedars once more.
Cherry Street
Did you know that north Louisiana has a cherry tree that’s native to our region? The black cherry tree is a beautiful native tree that has been bullied by snobs from our region’s culinary history.
The black cherry trees produce fruit that is, today, considered “bitter.” But Native Americans ate the fresh berries of the black cherry tree, and they also dried them, too. With just a little bit of research and experimentation, those living on Cherry Street can be known for both their black cherry trees and their black cherry recipes, too.
And when the neighborhood’s black cherry trees get tall, and limbs drop, those limbs can be turned into incredible pieces of black cherry furniture.
Black cherry trees also serve as hosts for more than 400 different types of moths and butterflies. Honeybees love them, too!
Black cherries are more expensive because they’re not sold in many places. But you can buy them through the Arbor Day Foundation from $49.99 to $99.99 each. The good news, though, is that once you have bought and planted black cherries, they’ll start sending out little suckers and spread by themselves.
Black cherry trees will take over your neighborhood if they’re allowed, too. And that’s a good thing when you realize that one 25-year-old black cherry try can absorb the emissions of 6000 cars every year! They also release oxygen.
Cherry Street in Shreveport can become the place where people stop for a literal breath of fresh air!
Crabapple Drive
Crabapple Drive is located in Southern Hills, where home prices tend to hover above the $200000 mark. And though crabapples aren’t necessarily considered the most upper-middle class of Southern plants, crabapples are truly a gift from above.
Crabapple jellies, jams, pies, chips, wine, cider, and vinegar were staples in southern homes for decades. How precious would it be for those who live on Crabapple Drive to become known not only for the beautiful crabapple trees on their street but also for the amazing gifts that they hand out to friends from all over Shreveport?
The Southern Crab Apple is native to Louisiana and is one of the only species of apples that are native to North America. And they don’t grow in the west, so Louisiana and East Texas serve almost as a dividing line of where you can grow and make your own crab apple jams and jellies. You won’t see them if you go much further west than NWLA.
Oh, and the flowering fruits are gorgeous, too!
Buy them for $99 each at Walmart. And remember that the fruits will be filled with seeds you can use to plant more crabapple trees.
Bulldog Road
We’re just kidding about this one. It would probably be a terrible idea for everyone who lives or works on Bulldog Road in Shreveport to get bulldogs.
But then again, it might be fun to see bulldogs on Bulldog Street–unless you’re a cat. Then it would be a miserable experience.
Elmwood Street
Elmwood Street, near Mall St. Vincent, is the perfect place to plant NWLA’s native Elm, the winged elm (Ulmus alata.)
This fast-growing tree produces flowers in February and March and is a very sturdy street tree, according to the Louisiana Native Plant Society.
Also called a Wahoo, the trees can grow up to 70 feet tall, and they have very beautiful branches.
Birds will carry away the seeds, which will then fall onto soil elsewhere and produce more winged elms.
Winged elms cost between $14.75 and $109.75 (depending on size) when you buy them from Tyty Nursery.
Laurel Street
Mountain Laurel and Cherry Laurel (Kalmia latifolia and Prunus caroliniana) are native to Louisiana, and they’re quite special.
Mountain Laurel is a pretty little evergreen shrub in the blueberry family. Yes, that’s right. The Blueberry family.
This plant makes pollinators happy (which is important to all life on the planet), and it also grows well in containers!
Ancient Greeks made crowns from myrtles (they’re in the laurel family) to present at the original Olympic games. It was even said to make love grow and help keep it going strong, so this is the perfect plant to give to newlyweds.
Plant mountain laurels on Laurel Street. The leaves are said to street rheumatism, scratches, diarrhea, syphilis, scalp ringworm, and even herpes.
The mountain laurel is the state flower of Pennsylvania.
People living on Laurel Street who plant mountain laurels can eventually trim their laurels in winter (it’s an evergreen) and use the trimmings to make beautiful Christmas wreaths for their friends and relatives.
They also make excellent hedges.
Oh, and it’s pretty when it’s in bloom. Really pretty. And you can get it in several different colors if you do your research.
Buy mountain laurel at Talbott Nursery and Poultry. Prices begin at $9.95.
Mimosa Avenue
Mimosa Avenue is located between Canal Boulevard and Bowie Street, just off of Mansfield Road in Shreveport. And it’s the perfect place to cover with Mimosa microphylla, a plant native to north and central Louisiana and southeast Texas.
This plant is known for its ability to help heal wounds! It’s also said to have antidiabetic effects to help reduce blood sugar levels, but you’ll need to research if you want to go down that road. (Literally.)
Mimosa flowers reduce itching and irritation, and the plant is often used in soaps, lotions, skin products, and cosmetics.
It makes a flower that looks like it was created by Dr. Seuss, as do many of NWLA’s native plants. The flower is a hot pink round ball, similar to a dandelion, with yellow tips.
Livestock like it, too. The plant can be grown from root cuttings or seeds.
Get 1000 Mimosa seeds on Amazon for a whopping $6.99, and get free shipping if you’ve got Amazon Prime. For that price, there’s no reason why you can’t get 5000+ seeds for less than $35.
That’s a small price to pay for bringing beauty and planetary health into your life and the lives of others.
Conclusion
The above plant and street name suggestions are just a tiny fraction of the ability we have in Shreveport to affordably make a big difference in not only global warming but also in experiencing beauty in our everyday lives.
Shreveport may not be the richest, the prettiest, the most technologically advanced, or the healthiest city in the nation. But Shreveport is filled with good people who want what’s best for others. Our region has been Native American, Spanish, French, Spanish, French, and American. We have a rich history and a bright cultural future, too.
Over the past 500 years, the flags of now-foreign nations have been lowered as the U.S. Flag has been raised on the lands we now call Shreveport.
Residents of the city today have the ability to go back to our literal roots and transform the way the city of Shreveport looks once again. All we need to do to get started is read the names of street signs and then plant pecan trees on Pecan Street, Copper Lillies on Copper Lily Lane, and Crape Myrtles on Crape Myrtle Street.
When trees are strategically planted on a street, property values are elevated by “a noteworthy margin.” The same is true of other plants that can sequester carbon while making Shreveport look more beautiful than she ever has before.
But Jones said we shouldn’t forget about biodiversity.
“When considering planting, we should remember that diversity is key to building a stronger and more resilient environment,” she said. “While we love the look of a crepe myrtle in full bloom, Redbud and Dogwood are just as remarkable, if not more so, because they exist without our assistance, guidance, or human interaction at all! These native varieties were here first, and we must honor and learn from their relationship to the environment.”
Jones said that a variety of native plants adds to the biodiversity and creates a stronger system all around us.
“Let’s plant Shreveport in a way to correct our mistakes and heal our centuries-long disconnect,” she said. “As a society, let’s take a note from Mother Nature’s book, and all grow stronger through our differences rather than our similarities.”
Stay up to date with the latest news, weather and sports by downloading the WGNO app on the Apple or Google Play stores and by subscribing to the WGNO newsletter.