For Jennifer Ceska, native grasses and wildflowers "paint the picture of where you are."

And that is why she ponders how the state of Georgia could raise awareness for native plants that could spotlight the state.

"The first word that pops back into my head is heritage," said Ceska, a Gainesville resident who is a conservation coordinator at the State Botanical Gardens in Athens. "If you are going to a habitat to see a rare animal in the rain forest, it is there because the rain forest is there. The plants ... create a sense of space; they tell you where you are."

Ceska added that if you protect a certain plant species, you are protecting "what is networked to that plant so that you have the native pollinators, the native birds, all the native mammals, the bees."

Right now, Ceska mentioned that most native wildflowers are out of season. But grasses like andropogon, found alongside many roads through Northeast Georgia, are gorgeous; the grass turns a beautiful golden color at sunset in autumn.

When you leave the grasses to grow throughout the winter, she said, in the spring come the wildflowers, ushering in warmer weather.

The idea of raising awareness for native flowers and grasses came from Ceska's upbringing in Texas, where former first lady Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson began conservation efforts in the 1960s.

But what Ceska really wants is a voice for Georgia's native flowers and grasses, like Lady Bird Johnson and her work in Texas. Ceska said it would take a high-profile woman or a woman with a strong Southern personality.

"I'm wondering if anyone could even name one wildflower," Ceska said. "We could start with the black-eyed Susan ... purple cone flowers, cardinal flowers. There's others that are really beautiful but are more rare like the fringed gentian - they are cobalt blue with these crazy aquatic-looking fringes on the petals. There are groups that take field trips to go see those flowers in North Georgia when they are in bloom, and I think that is exciting."

Mildred Fockele, the director of horticulture at Smithgall Woodland Gardens, said she thinks what Ceska is doing is important for the entire state's environment.

"I think she's got a great point," Fockele said. "I don't know that it's going to be one person; hopefully it will be thousands of people and she certainly is a great proponent for native plants and native plants along our roadsides.

"I like the quote from Lady Bird Johnson about (how) beautification is just more than the beauty and the fluff that people think about, but it's about clean water, clean air, clean earth."

The Georgia Department of Transportation does incorporate plantings along the state's roadsides, but Ceska said she thinks even more could be done.

"I would like to see our roadsides carpeted with native flowers and native grasses," she said. "We do have roadside plantings, but most of those are not native flowers. Now, I like them, they are beautiful, but it doesn't quite tell the story.

"Like Lady Bird said, ‘When you go to a state you want to see the state.' That is why you are traveling there - you don't want it to look like home."

Peter Gordon, director of education at Elachee Nature Science Center, said raising awareness for native plant varieties is important in the state.

"No. 1, if you are a gardener and like gardening, of course native plants are very much more adapted to the changing climates and conditions of Northeast Georgia. So they tend to be stronger and more resilient," Gordon said. "Secondly, from an ecological standpoint, native plants are part of an ecosystem that exists here, and if we keep native plants in our gardens then we're contributing to the health of the overall ecosystem ... a variety of other life forms are dependent on those plants."

Gordon said he wasn't sure if anyone had enough exposure to do what Lady Bird Johnson did for Texas, but he is confident in state and local organizations.

"All these types of organizations, and the awareness that they raise - and people locally, nationally - it goes a long way toward enhancing and protecting valuable habitats," he said. "There is a certain level of awareness for plants that I've never seen in my lifetime."

Right now, Ceska and the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance are working on one way to encourage native plant awareness through the state parks - by adding small native gardens.

"So that when you went to a state park in Georgia you would see a little garden display with some native plants, with signs," Ceska said.

But really what Ceska wants is for everyone in Georgia to take pride in the different flower and grass heritage found all over the state.

"I would like for people to have pride in something that is native," Ceska said. "That you would know not to go pick all the flowers from the site because you need to leave the seeds behind. That is just basic conservation ethics that we should all have."