On a mid-May trip up to Dallas, I swung by the Laura W. Bush Native Texas Park just before sunset to see the big wildflower show I’d been hearing about this spring. I was not disappointed.

Red-and-yellow firewheel, purple horsemint, rusty Mexican hat, and lilac American basketflower were quilting the 15-acre park with color. Vying with the hum of traffic from nearby (but invisible) North Central Expressway, insects were buzzing in the wildflowers and birds were trilling in the trees. As the sun dipped to the horizon, the orange haze of the flowering prairie deepened. It was magical!

Native Texas Park unfolds via walking trails behind the George W. Bush Presidential Center on the Southern Methodist University campus. Open daily — and free to visit — from sunrise until sunset, the park “reflects what the site might have looked like centuries ago,” according to SMU.edu. “Native trees, plants, and water-conserving features make the park drought resistant, minimize the need for irrigation through municipal water sources, and helps [sic] important pollinators like butterflies, birds, and bees thrive.”

Designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the park sits below the brick-and-limestone presidential library and slopes downhill toward a wet-weather creek and retention pond. A native-blend lawn similar to Habiturf provides a green negative space surrounded by native gardens. Kids were having a blast running the trails and dashing across the lawn. What a great place to get outdoors in the middle of Dallas.

American basketflower in fringey lavender-and-cream bloom

Pokeweed in flower, later to make berries beloved by birds

The layout of the park, in a bowl edged with trees, offers a secluded oasis amid glass office towers on one side and the SMU campus on the other.

From the lawn you look out over a large meadow, hazed with orange at this time of year thanks to all the firewheel. A curving boardwalk bridges the wet-weather creek.

Bicyclists and walkers were exploring the paths among the wildflowers.

The light was beautiful in the late afternoon.

I was intrigued by this ivory horsemint, which Jay at NewTexasGardens ID’d as spotted beebalm (Monarda punctata).

Spotted beebalm colonizing the slope…

…and glowing in the late-afternoon light

It was a good time of day to photograph the garden and people enjoying it.

Firewheel on fire

Below, the kids and their moms had staked out an idyllic conversation spot under a live oak.

That oak is a picturesque presence in the background of several of my photos.

More firewheel

I love a shaggy native-grass lawn.

So tranquil

Winecup and lantana aglow

Along a side path following a drainage swale…

…I found a stand of Mexican hat, one of my favorite wildflowers.

The path crosses the wet-weather creek and emerges into the wildflower meadow.

More basketflower

The moms enjoying a quiet moment

More Mexican hat

Firewheel with horsemint

Wildflowers every direction I looked

As twilight softened all the colors, I headed back, swatting a few aggressive mosquitoes along the way (note to self: spray with repellent next time).

American basketflower

So much firewheel

The conversation bench under the live oak, open for the next tête-à-tête

Basketflower and the Bush Library

Pink prairie roses

Thistle

And more firewheel and basketflower

What a serene place.

Up by the library, I admired a row of large chitalpa trees.

Chitalpa, a cross between Southern catalpa and desert willow, is showy with pale-pink flowers.

Out front, a native lawn flows around clusters of trees, rising and falling like the prairie of old. Native Texas Park echoes what was once here, hopefully serving as inspiration to designers of other municipal, cultural, and commercial sites across the country. It offers a sanctuary to wildlife in an urban environment and to the humans who come to enjoy it.

For more, see a previous post I wrote about Native Texas Park.

Up next from my Dallas trip: A tour of the colorful garden of Suzy Renz on the Dallas County Master Gardener Association Tour.

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Digging Deeper

June 1-2: Take a self-guided, 2-day tour of ponds and gardens in and around Austin on the annual Austin Pond and Garden Tour, held 6/1 and 6/2, 9 am to 5 pm. Tickets are $20 to $25.

Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!

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