Flowers bloom for Nacogdoches median beautification project

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KTRE) - Spring is in full bloom, and so are the flowers in several medians on U.S. Highway 59 in Nacogdoches.

These flowers and grasses planted in the medians are a part of the median beautification project put on by the city. The city partnered with the USDA-NRCS and Texas Seeds to start a project to create more beautiful and sustainable medians at the entrance to the city. The project came about a year and a half ago, and today, residents of Nacogdoches can see the first bloom.

Dawn Stover, an agronomist with the USDA-NRCS, said these medians are TxDOT right of ways, but the city does maintain them. In the summers, they were mowing these once a week.

“Mowing on a weekly basis was time consuming as well as resource consuming, and so they asked us to create a sustainable solution, and we of course said, ‘Yes, we can do that, and we can make it beautiful too,’” Stover said.

All the plants in this median are Texas natives. Stover said as the seeds in the medians mature, the look will change over time. Right now, the annuals are in full bloom.

“But, as the project matures, more of our perennials will start to come into play, grasses will get a little bit taller and in probably two- or three-years’ time, we will see different kinds of flowers,” Stover said.

Residents in Nacogdoches are taking notice of the recent blooms.

Magnolia Court is an assisted living home across from one of the medians, and residents were raving about the flowers and said they enjoy sitting on the porch to look at them.

“I saw them, and I’ve been watching this as my family picks me up, and I thought someone had planted seeds, but then they came up rapidly, and now they are so pretty, the colors,” resident Patricia Neff said.

“I was surprised the first time I saw them, and they are beautiful. We really enjoy them,” resident Betty Cole said.

“It’s a very pleasant site to see, and I really enjoy it,” resident David Lenhart said.

Jonie Landrum, business office manager for Magnolia Court, said the residents enjoy them very much.

“As far as our residents, they love sitting outside anyway, and to sit here one day and just be able to see, I mean just one day the flowers popped up, and it has nothing but been talked about in the hallways, in the dining room,” Landrum said.

Stover said the city is looking at possibly doing this is other areas.

The city is asking people to avoid picking the flowers.

Since they are annuals, the seeds need to sit for them to continue to bloom for many years to come.

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