See what’s blooming at Easton Park
We always knew our landscaping looked good, but now we can officially claim that it’s award-winning! Our partner Urban Dirt recently won a Silver Award for the Commercial Maintenance of Easton Park from the Texas Nursery & Landscape Association. Our excellent lawn and plant care is just one of the thoughtful ways our land team keeps our neighborhood’s natural areas in tip-top shape.
Going native
Good landscaping starts with choosing and installing the right mix of plants, trees, and seeds. Easton Park is located in the Blackland Prairie region of Texas, and when designing the vegetation for the neighborhood, our in-house land development team worked with the landscape architects at TBG Partners to choose plants and trees that are native to our region. These plants are not only better suited to our Central Texas climate, but also require less water and less maintenance. Many of them have developed natural resistance to local pests, and they are perfectly suited to be a good habitat for native wildlife.
Looking good, saving water
Choosing the right blends of native grasses are an instrumental part of reducing our water usage and retaining good top soils. “We talked about water usage up front, and really tried to be purposeful and embrace a green strategy,” says Justin Lindebery with TBG Partners. “To save on water, we’re really only irrigating in highly trafficked areas. For example, Skyline Park is 21 acres, but only 3 acres of that are a highly irrigated lawn. On William Cannon, there is 1.7 miles of roadway. Typically that would all be irrigated, maintained, and manicured, but our strategy was to irrigate and maintain the edges and let the medians vary in size and leave them natural.” Justin’s calculations show that the size of the native area is over 16 acres on William Cannon. Once this grassland is established, it will save the neighborhood close to 10 million gallons a year in water use! “This is an area that people are not activated or using – they’re just driving by – and we’re super proud of the team for looking at it this way,” Justin says.
Starting with soil and seed
Grant Hutchinson from Prograde helped us choose the right blends of native grasses. He and his skilled team have developed proprietary seed blends for areas that receive different amounts of sunlight, as well as a specialized soil preparation and installation process that helps the grass seeds to take hold. “Native landscapes take time,” Grant says. “There’s a lot of patience that’s required there!”
As you drive along William Cannon, you’ll notice a mix of native plants and grasses, including bluestem grass, switchstem grass, and flowering plants. “We wanted things that would bloom at different times throughout the year,” Grant says. “For this mix, we didn’t want anything that would grow over 24 inches because of the line of sight in the median, so we used a custom grass mix. But it takes time to get these areas to do what they’re intended to do. As the native grasses get established, we’ll have fewer weeds and invasive plants and more butterflies and native things supposed to be there, and everything will require less maintenance and less water. That will mean less weed eating and spraying, so it’s good for the community and good for everybody.”
But back to that award…
Congratulations again to our partners at Urban Dirt, particularly Account Manager Hector Escobar, who is onsite at Easton Park every day with multiple teams, tending to Easton Park’s grass maintenance, plant health, tree pruning, and irrigation needs. They work hand-in-hand with our land team to carry out our vision of creating a sustainable community that implements best practices. “We’re so proud of Hector, his team, and the Easton Park community for winning the TNLA Silver Award,” says Mike Williams, VP of Maintenance at Urban Dirt. “The Urban Dirt team works hard every day to make Easton Park shine. It is an honor to be a part of the ever-growing community and partnering to implement the incredible long-term vision.”
Want to live in a neighborhood that’s this beautiful and thoughtfully cared for? Come find your dream home here in Easton Park.
