ORLANDO, Fla. — When the wrong things take root, it can feel a lot like Groundhog Day.

What You Need To Know

  •  The City of Casselberry is launching its first conservation program, giving away native plants

  •  Homeowners living on 24 different bodies of water managed by the city are eligible

  •  Teams from the city will install the plants, bare root, in early May

  • Native plants clean the water, help with erosion control and serve as wildlife habitat

But yanking out weeds on a regular basis doesn’t phase Nancy Rudner, who bought a home in Casselberry. She understands ensuring native plants thrive is not just about aesthetics. Native plants serve as a buffer between her property and Queen’s Mirror Lake.

Those plants clean the water, serve as habitat for wildlife and help with erosion control and shoreline stabilization.

“Having native plants certainly helps the eco-balance. And that’s really important,” she said.

It’s why Rudner volunteers to sample the water monthly for the University of Florida’s Lake Watch program, and why the homeowner recently reached out to the city of Casselberry to take part in a new program.

Rudner filled out an application to be on the receiving end of free native plants, available to lake-dwelling homeowners on 24 different bodies of water.

The program was spearheaded by Nick Cooper, a natural resources officer for the Seminole County city.

Cooper, who has worked in the field of conservation for the past 10 years, said that it will be the first time Casselberry is launching such a program. The goal is to be “good stewards of the environment.”

“If hydrilla takes over your lake, you can’t boat, you can’t recreate. It’s a very big nuisance,” he explained. “I don’t know if 100% control of non-natives is ever a possible thing, but it’s always a goal.”

Conservation is a responsibility Rudner takes seriously. She said she learned everything about it from Katie Moncrief, the late woman who worked to create Friends of the Wekiva River.

“You want bird life; you want fish life. We are so fortunate to have the lake. You’ve got to take care of it,” she said. “We need water to live. We have to protect what we have.”

So far, about a dozen homeowners applied for the free plants, which teams from the city will install — bare root — in early May.

You can find more information about the program on the stormwater and lakes management page of Casselberry's web site.