When the Aurora Fire Chief approved some landscape improvements at Fire Station #12, fireman Clete Rettenmeier called on The Conservation Foundation. Clete had already worked on his own yard through the Conservation@Home program and had the idea to create a butterfly garden to replace a failed planting on an island around the station’s main sign.
Each year the department spent money to purchase and plant annuals in this spot, but with the help of Conservation@Home and a planting guide designed by Denise Sandoval of Good Natured Landscapes, a sustainable, functional and beautiful native perennial planting was born (Denise has since joined our staff working on the Conservation@Home program)! This very visible sustainable landscaping project is serving as a model for other properties, too. See Aurora Fire Station #12’s new garden at the corner of Eola and Hafenrichter Roads in Aurora.
