Nature provides another lesson
IN THE GARDEN WITH URBAN HARVEST
Rarely would I describe Houston’s climate as boring. With our extremes of extended dry spells to floods and everything in between, at any given time a gardener can be surprised, frustrated or relieved. Our recommendations for how to manage landscapes during our historic drought of a few years ago now have us discussing what to do with soggy soils.
Perhaps it is time to revisit our ecological heritage to find lessons in the ultimate resilient landscape — vanishing prairies. Houston sits on a coastal plain — flat and historically home to tall-grass prairies where the native grasses were sometimes knee to head high. Now less than 1 percent of these remarkable, endangered prairie ecosystems remain. Yes, we love our trees and trees still line many rivers and bayous, but for sheer sustainability during droughts or floods, a prairie landscape wins, hands down.
The native species that make up the plant palette of prairie ecosystems include mainly grasses and forbs — herbaceous, flowering plants — and are very heat and drought tolerant. With their deep roots (some grass roots go down 15 to 30 feet), indigenous prairie plants can adjust to harsher conditions, help absorb and retain water during periods of rain and stabilize soil, preventing erosion. During a prolonged drought, plants go dormant, but generally do not die.
Because it is ecologically sound, a prairie landscape requires far less water than conventional lawns, and none of the chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Botanists have referred to a prairie as “a wonderfully complex society of living organisms.” At the same time, it can handle being periodically inundated with rainwater. In the process, a wonderful, bio-diverse, year-round habitat emerges attracting pollinators of all sorts, including butterflies and other beneficial insects, song-birds, toads, and other wildlife in need of a healthy environment in which to thrive.
Conventional, thirsty lawns — our typical urban and suburban monocultures — offer little sustenance for wildlife, drain our natural resources and wallets, and absorb a fraction of the runoff that ends up in our storm-drain system.
If you are not familiar with growing native prairie plants, think of including a few bunching grasses into your existing landscape. Some of my favorite choices are Gulf muhly, muhlenbergia capillaris, little bluestem, schizachyrium scoparium, indiangrass, sorghastrum nutans, and side oats gramma, bouteloua curtipendula, which also happens to be the State Grass of Texas.
Planted in groups, they sway in graceful unison with every passing breeze. Backlit with morning or setting sun, they stage a dramatic, glowing focal point. Or try some of these herbaceous plants: Blue mistflower, conoclinium coelestinum, Gulf Coast penstemon, penstemon tenuis, plains coreopsis, coreopsis tinctoria, and Texas coneflower, rudbeckia texana. Most prairie plants require full sun, but there is a good selection that can tolerate some shade.
Although urban and suburban settings do not often allow for larger prairie installations, a smaller “pocket” prairie can suit a residential space, neighborhood commons area, or schoolyard. Placed near vegetable gardens and fruit trees, it provides a bug bank or insectary — an area planted to attract beneficial insects and pollinators. Once established, this diverse plant popula- tion can minimize the time, water use and cost of maintenance. We refer to prairie landscapes as being resource-efficient, but beyond that, they are strikingly beautiful. Subtle and not so subtle differences in textures, forms, shades of green, and a myriad of color combinations rival any standard landscape design.
Recent droughts and record rainfalls offer us an opportunity to rethink old patterns, learn from teachable moments, and make choices in our landscapes that are more environmentally sound. What prairies show us, is that by looking to nature, the ultimate teacher, we can have the best of all worlds — beauty, function and a lasting legacy.
Efforts to save and restore remaining prairies in our area are ongoing. Plan a visit and get a glimpse into the ecology of early Texas when the first explorers and naturalists became captivated and enchanted with the native landscape and when bison still roamed. Find locations at the Coastal Prairie Partnership: www.prairiepartner.org.