A few years ago, a large chinkapin oak fell in Playground Park (Lippit at Sinclair) in the DIxon Branch Greenbelt. Dallas Park Department policy is to allow most fallen trees to decompose, which provides great shelter for wildlife and wood-boring insects that feed birds. During that process, Eastwood Riparian seeded the area with acorns, pecans, and wildflower seeds, letting the fallen tree provide shelter for the young emerging plants. But an Eastwood resident complained and pushed the park department mightily. The tree was cut up and taken away. All the saplings and plants were leveled in the process. 

Starting last fall, and working with the park department, Eastwood Riparian began reconstructing our work. A thick layer of mulch was laid down and we waited to see what would emerge. Now it's time to cull what's not desired and encourage what is. Step one this spring was removing  the hedge parsley, giant ragweed, and other undesirables. Amy Martin and Kathleen Trotter took on the task, made urgent by the need to spiff up the park for Eastwood's July 4th parade and picnic. 

The scene: A little cluttered with saplings in need of thinning and unwanted aggressive plants.  

Hedge parsley, whose nasty burs get caught in everything. 

Prickly lettuce is a monster! 

The carnage: Two large piles of pulled hedge parsley, giant ragweed, and prickly lettuce. You can see them along Lippit. 

Here are a few things we liberated. 

Hog peanut. A volunteer. 

Inland sea oats. Seeded by Amy with seeds from her and Michael Parkey's yards. 

Elderflower shrub, grown and planted by Sam Hudson. 

White avens. A volunteer. 

Eve's necklace tree — lots of these! Seeded by Amy from ones in the greenbelt. 

Rosinweed. Stop by and touch the wildly rough leaves. Seeded by Amy with seeds from the entry garden. 

Young frostweed. Will get as tall as the rosinweed. Seeded by Amy with seeds from the greenbelt. 

Collateral damage. Amy's pants coated with hedge parsley burrs. 

Join us at 8 am on Saturday June 18 to finish the task. Michael will direct us on which saplings stay or go. Need some strong folks to dig up the prickly lettuce we were unable to pull. Amy will treat the few poison ivy plants. Still some hedge parsley to pull in the main park area.