DALLAS – The Dallas suburb of Addison encompasses only 4.5 square miles and has only 14,000 residents, but it still manages to stand out from other cities. It has long been known for having the third-largest general aviation airport in the country. In August, Addison gained fame as the first citywide wireless city in Texas.
Now, according to city officials and Dr. Steve George, Texas Cooperative Extension horticulturist based at the Texas A&M University System Research and Extension Center in Dallas, Addison has built the world’s first fully EarthKind park.
Parkview Park comprises seven-tenths of an acre and rectangular in shape. It slopes four feet down from one end to the other and is divided into thirds by two, 2-foot-high seating walls. The park is bordered on both sides by trees to provide shade.
It was designed, including the pedestrian lighting, to match the architectural design of “Addison Circle,” the special district development project it is located within that features residential living, office space, restaurants and retail shops.
Coy Talley of Talley Associates was the landscape architect. Talley designed the park’s semi-circle arbor which will eventually be covered in flowering vines. The park also features a pavilion with seating and electricity to accommodate events for the residents of the nearby City Homes Centex brownstone development.
“We first conceived and designed the park this time last year,” said Slade Strickland, parks and recreation director for Addison. “The goal was to keep this green space as flexible as possible for multi-use purposes, such as group gatherings, pet recreation and performances.”
Strickland said the EarthKind environmental approach that makes the park unique.
“But the more we talked about it we thought, ‘Boy, what an opportunity to do a park that’s completely EarthKind’,” Strickland said. “And this park is EarthKind in every sense. We used EarthKind plants, soil preparation and planting procedures. We’re trying to follow EarthKind in everything we do now. There are five to six areas around town now that are EarthKind.”
Most of the park’s plants are either designated as EarthKind roses or Texas SuperStars. Both designations indicate extensive testing by Texas A&M University System horticulture researchers and Extension specialists to determine which will grow best in Texas. Researchers have also determined which plants require the least water and maintenance, and are the most disease and insect resistant.
The park’s open areas were also given the EarthKind treatment.
“On the turf areas, we only used finished compost as specified by EarthKind soil preparation guidelines,” Strickland said. “After tilling up the entire area and mixing in the compost, we planted Bermuda grass, because it’s a full-sun area.”
Strickland said Bermuda was chosen for its disease and drought tolerance, which saves water and pesticides. He said the benefits of the soil aeration from the tilling and nutrition from the compost should also provide some important benefits.
“I can already tell a difference from other turf plantings we’ve done,” Strickland said. “The grassy areas are more springy to walk on and the water soaks in and drains better than it does in other areas where we’ve done nothing to the native clay base.”
The research-based EarthKind Environmental Landscape Management Program was created by Extension specialists. George said the goal of the EarthKind program is to greatly reduce water usage and eliminate, as much as possible, the use of pesticides and commercial fertilizers.
Previous EarthKind projects around the city over the last four years have proven to Strickland the approach works. He cites as one example, water usage reduced by 70 percent in the EarthKind areas they’ve planted.
“In addition, we just don’t use pesticides any more,” Strickland said. “Between soil preparation, which affects watering and using Texas SuperStar and EarthKind proven plants, we don’t need pesticides anymore. On the turf areas, we will use an EarthKind fertilizer, because it is allowed under the EarthKind turf guidelines, but we will use far less than if we hadn’t followed the EarthKind soil preparation procedures.”
Strickland said the park is the largest EarthKind turf project of its kind that he knows of, and he hopes other cities will look at the success Addison has had with the EarthKind approach and adopt the program.
“It very definitely is a model for park systems worldwide,” George said. “It shows how parks can have beautiful plantings with great protection for the environment and significantly reduce maintenance costs.”
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