Visit our New Pocket Prairie!

Bellaire, West U. & Southwest Houston are known for their neighborhoods with large, lovely trees. Long before our neighborhoods were here, all of Southwest Houston was a richly diverse coastal prairie. Trees occurred only along the bayous and creeks. In the summer when grasses like Big & Little Blue Stem, Switchgrass and Indian Grass were growing tall, passing cowboys used to have to stand on top of their saddles to see above the swaying grasses to find their way, looking for the lines of trees in the distance that they knew followed the bayous. In the spring, before the grasses grew tall, these prairies were ablaze with native Texas wildflowers in a rainbow of brilliant colors.

Those days are now long gone, but here at the Nature Discovery Center we have recently transplanted a “Pocket Prairie”, a small sample prairie garden, that includes some of the native species of wildflowers and grasses that once thrived in our area. The idea of having a small prairie garden was in the original plan for the park, and we are really excited to have broken ground.

This spring, with the inspiration of Don Verser, a longtime NDC volunteer with a passion for prairies, native plants, and birds, we had the opportunity to rescue many native coastal prairie plants from a future Beck & Masten car dealership site. They thoughtfully invited many ecologically minded groups to come and rescue all the plants they could before construction began.

Don spearheaded an effort to bring these rescued prairie plants to the Center, and within two days we were there digging up emerging plants and sod with the hope it contained additional wildflowers. Don Verser, Gary Gray and Mary Ann Beauchemin, a staff member, all donated volunteer time to work on this project. They transplanted truck, van and car loads of these plants into the sunniest spot in the park – on the east side of the park. Thus a pocket prairie was born.

It is very exciting to see all the plants that are coming up in our pocket prairie – more than we ever saw when we transplanted the native prairie sod. We make new discoveries every week and are in the process of identifying the plants as they begin to bloom.

If you would like to donate money to help us put up a short decorative fence to protect our little prairie and to buy materials to label all of the plants, please give us a call at the Nature Discovery Center, 713-667-6550 to let us know or send us a check with a note saying it is for the “Pocket Prairie”.

Mary Ann will give be giving a tour of our new pocket prairie on Saturday, June 14, 2008, at 9:30 am. Please come then or any other time to visit our new pocket prairie and see what native wildflowers used to fill your lawns long before you or any of your neighbors ever set foot in this area!