19 April . 2021
How we’re restoring a patch of Blackland Prairie at The Grove Frisco
Bluestem Park, one of our newest parks at The Grove Frisco, is helping to restore a small piece of the native Blackland Prairie ecosystem, which once covered 12 million acres around Frisco and North Texas.
Located at Rolater Road and Holland Drive, Bluestem Park has been seeded with filled with flowing grasses and colorful perennial flowers that will attract native birds, butterflies and other beneficial visitors.
The Blackland Prairie is known for its fertile dark clay soil, recognized as some of the richest soil in the world. Less than 1% of the prairies remains in its natural state today, but a number of organizations are working to restore some of the Blackland Prairie, such as the Connemara Conservancy in Allen, about 7 miles from The Grove Frisco.
We’re also trying to do our own small part at Bluestem Park. Our lakeside Blackland Prairie area has been seeded with native grasses, such as Heavy Metal Switchgrass, named for the metallic color of its blue-gray foliage. This grass can reach 5-6 feet in height, and bears sprays of attractive flowers in late summer.
Big Bluestem, another Blackland Prairie native, has a bluish color that turns reddish in the fall, with a distinctive seed head that resembles a turkey’s foot. It can grow up to 12 feet high.
Little Bluestem is an even more ornamental grass, with blue-green stems that turn a radiant mahogany red in fall and winter. Shiny white seed tufts add to the natural beauty of this grass, which can reach up to three feet.
The Blackland Prairie seed mix also includes wildflowers such as Black-Eyed Susan, Winecup and Plains Coreopsis.
You can see these grasses and flowers growing beside the trails and along the sloped banks of the scenic pond in this park. Because they are native, they require much less water and fertilizer than non-natives, which is another environmental benefit.
With its seating areas and grassy lawn, this park is a place where residents can come to enjoy nature. They can also enjoy a more high-tech feature – solar-powered Wi-Fi coverage.
Restoring this little patch of Blackland Prairie is just one of the ways we’re striving to be a greener community. Our Butterfly Park is filled with native flowering plants selected to provide nectar and pollen for butterflies, and our ongoing tree transplantation program has already preserved more than 130 large trees. Several of our parks have solar-powered lighting.
Learn more about our recreational amenities at The Grove Frisco.