What is a Pocket Prairie?

A typical pocket prairie is a relatively small urban/suburban planting (often less than 1 acre and sometimes up to 10 acres) featuring plants native to the highly imperiled coastal prairie ecosystem of Texas and Louisiana.

There really isn’t a lower limit to the size of these plantings, nor is there any particular shape that they need take. They can be more or less formal, based on your aesthetic tastes, your neighbors’ receptivity to native plants, plant availability, ease of maintenance (more formalized plantings will need more maintenance), etc.

Pocket prairies are valuable for connecting southeast Texas residents with local ecology, Texas history, climate resilience, Indigenous Peoples, culture, and other important aspects of life in our area.

Step 1: Select and Assess the Site

Light: Selecting a site in full or mostly sunny condition is important. Pocket prairies placed in semi-shady or shady areas either get ‘leggy’ or don’t thrive.

Soil: Soil type and depth can vary depending on what part of the state you live in and what conditions are local to your site. To learn more about your region of Texas, visit TPWD’s Texas Ecoregions and Texas Almanac’s Soils of Texas sites.

Size: Select a pocket prairie size that can be maintained by your team. The smaller the team, the smaller the area should be – particularly if this pocket prairie is in a highly visible place.

Border: All urban pocket prairies should sport an intentional border. Borders can be made up of mulch, stone, metal or plastic edging, etc. You can create intentional borders by juxtaposing well-groomed lawn with a pocket prairie and separating these two textures with one of the edgings mentioned above.

Assess: One of the great joys of creating pocket prairies is to see life rebound on a formerly blank landscape. Consider documenting all the life found on your planting site before you begin its transformation. One way to do this, particularly if you are not a biologist or naturalist, is to document your observations using the iNaturalist app. Experts will offer you identification suggestions and as your pocket prairie comes to life. And you can continue to add species through your iNaturalist project.

Step 2: Prepare the Site

Remove Unwanted Species: Ridding the lawn and other aggressive species is a critical step. Oftentimes the sod or existing vegetation will need to be killed and/or removed to allow new plants to grow and thrive. There are a variety of ways to get rid of turf and other undesired species:

Organic Herbicide: An organic herbicide can be made with orange oil, 20% vinegar, and dishwashing soap. Here’s a recipe. This route will probably require 3-4 treatments and may be ineffective with tough plants like bermudagrass.

Soil Solarization: A good summertime project is to a kill grass using the power of the sun without the use of herbicides. The basic idea is to mow the area short and maybe even do a light tilling. Afterwards, place some thick plastic sheeting on top of the area, and the summer sun kills the covered grass. Click here for more info.

Chemical Herbicide: As a last resort, we sometimes must use herbicides like glyphosate (Roundup) if the site is loaded with a very hard-to-kill grass like bermudagrass. Sometimes two treatments are necessary during the growing session. Don’t try planting any plants/seeds for at least two to three weeks after herbicide treatment.

Planting native seeds into a bed of bermudagrass or St. Augustine with the hope that natives will outcompete or “shade out” these exotic grasses is not a successful strategy and has led to much failure and frustration.

Step 3: Select Your Species

Select as many locally-adapted prairie natives as your budget will allow. It is good to use a combination of both seeds and live plants if possible.

Obtaining seeds: Seeds can be purchased through Native American Seed. If possible, try collecting seeds from local prairie species as they become available.

Look for live plants at local Native Plant Society of Texas and other plant sales. Or buy from nurseries that grow natives to your area.

Why include grasses? For maximum diversity, mix both native wildflowers and native grasses. Grasses serve a variety of functions: (1) they anchor and give structure to the planting, (2) they provide roosting opportunities for birds, dragonflies, and lizards, (3) their deep root systems help drain away excess water and (4) they serve as a caterpillar food source for a few local species, which are in-turn a food source for birds.

Decide on a grass-to-wildflower ratio: What often determines which species you choose is the look and feel of the planting you’d like to see. On a natural local prairie, grasses dominate and make up to around 60%-70% of the plant community. Yet, in urban pocket prairie plantings we often dial the grasses down to between 30-50% to give the planting more room for colorful wildflowers.

Nine Natives: Another option is for you to start with a smaller plant palette. This concept is called Nine Natives. Collectively, these nine species have a long bloom cycle, complement each other aesthetically, don’t get too tall, and serve a wide variety of wildlife throughout the year. Click here for more details.

Bluebonnets & Texan Heritage: Plant Texas Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) in your new pocket prairie if possible. While this annual wildflower is not a tallgrass prairie species, it carries a lot of cultural weight and will help to build a bridge of understanding between your neighbors and your project. The prairie is the landscape that gave rise to Texas icons like barbecue, cowboys, rodeos, and more. Take advantage of this unique habitat-culture connection!

Step 4: Plant Your Pocket Prairie

Planting day is the start of a new phase for your pocket prairie. A good goal is to involve neighbors, family members, students, scouts, civic or religious groups, kids, etc. You want buy-in for your project, so remember to start from the beginning!

Seeding: Distribute your purchased and wild-collected seeds over the planting area. The seeds need to make contact with the soil. Sometimes it helps to mix the seeds with a sand. Then have your helpers stomp the seeds into the clean seed bed, or use a water-filled roller rented at a home improvement store.

Live plants: Plant live plants 2-3 feet apart to allow for growth. A quick rule of thumb is 500 live plugs per acre for wild prairie restorations, but use as many live plugs as you can to jump start your project.

Seed Balls: Want to engage your team and get more planting materials for your pocket prairie? If so, consider making seed balls. A quick rule of thumb is to make one seed ball for each square foot of planting area. These should be made at least a day ahead and allowed to dry. Instructions can be found at wildflower.org.

Step 5: Make and Record Observations

Enjoy your prairie! One of the joys of creating a pocket prairie is seeing wildlife and indigenous plants quickly reappear where once they were gone. Creating a record of what’s returning can give your project added meaning and can help you tell your pocket prairie’s story. It can also give you good ideas about what is still missing and what you might plant to entice birds, insects, or other creatures you would like to see.

Share your observations:

iNaturalist: iNaturalist and the iNaturalist app are a quick, fun, and geographically accurate way of recording what you find. They are also fantastic for giving suggestions of what you are seeing based on other local observations, taking a little of the guesswork out of species identification. Posting observations to iNaturalist.org also allows you to be a citizen scientist, helping the whole community crowdsource scientific observations of what is living in our region.

eBird:

Facebook: Creating a photo album or even a whole page dedicated to your pocket prairie is also a good way of both teaching about and monitoring your project. St. Julian’s Crossing Wildlife Crossing and White Oak Pocket Prairie are two good examples.

Step 6: Tell Your Pocket Prairie's Story

Before planting your pocket prairie you may want to ask your neighbors’ opinions about what might connect them to your projects and if they’d like to be involved. Telling you pocket prairie's story is critical. It can turn what is perceived to be a mistake into a celebration.

Name Your Pocket Prairie:

• Things with names become entities. Things without names become vulnerable. That is why each of Katy Prairie Conservancy's Prairie Builder School and Park sites has a name. These names often eventually appear on Google Maps and other mapping programs, further weaving them into the geography of the neighborhood!

• What should I name my pocket prairie?

Rules of thumb:

• Allusions to Texas or Texas pride work very well

• Naming a pocket prairie after a beloved person or environmental hero works well

• Naming a pocket prairie after a school mascot works well

Types of Messages

• Some folks respond to how pocket prairies help wildlife

• Some folks respond to how pocket prairies are small examples of the ancient prairies that once covered most of Houston and likely their neighborhood

• Some folks like that grasses absorb lots of water (resiliency)

• Some folks like the fact that there are many other pocket prairies around town. You are not asking them to be guinea pigs.

• Some folks like a story combining several elements

Types of Messengers

• Signs: Signs are a good first step in interpreting your prairie. If you are going to make your own sign make sure to use plenty of colorful photos and fewer words. Also make sure to get it printed on outdoor plastic (like the coroplast used for political signs) or on brushed aluminum. You can also buy signs from the Native Plant Society of Texas - Houston Chapter when available.

• Videos: You can use a QR code on your sign to connect to a video on YouTube or another video provider. The video below and right was produced and incorporated into a sign for Hermann Park's Whistlestop Prairie.

• Tour Guides: If you are creating a sizable pocket prairie in an urban park, consider leading periodic tours. Live tour guides can be highly effective at connecting your audience to the pocket prairie.

• Signage makes a big difference in telling your project's story.

Step 7: Maintain Your Pocket Prairie

Maintaining a pocket prairie is often the key to its survival, acceptance, and ultimate celebration. Click here for a seasonal maintenance guide.

Here are a few quick tips:

• Mow the plantings at least once a year. This is typically done in late December or early January or once all the seeds have been eaten by wintering birds. Please plan to mow or weed eat the planting at a height of about 8” to avoid scalping the grass. If you want the planting to be a bit shorter in fall, you can mow the planting in early June (at around 8-10" or so). This will also stimulate grass growth.

• Deadhead any spent flowers throughout the year.

• The first 8 months, or so, of your project will involve regular weeding while your desired species take hold. Make sure to remove all unwanted grasses, sedges, and vines regularly because they can quickly smother a planting.

• Remove any invasive species that pop up. How do you know what an invasive species is vs. a native that you want?

• Perhaps your best bet is to create a "project" for your pocket prairie on iNaturalist.org and upload your observations. There’s a whole army of folks out there willing to help identify species and iNaturalist has a very robust suggested species function as well. You can also reach out to a local prairie group like Katy Prairie Conservancy, Coastal Prairie Partnership, or Native Prairies Association of Texas and share photos of species you'd like to identify.

Local Resources

The goal is to use NATIVE plants in any area. Start with the Nine Natives Planting Guide (PDF) or (WORD DOC) of Nine Natives Planting Guide when making your selections, or the Texas Top 20 Wildflowers according to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Contact one of the three area Native Plant Society of Texas chapters, too. There are often grants and plants.

Resource Books

• Native Prairies Association of Texas Build a Pocket Prairie Page (statewide resource)

• Landscaping with Native Plants of Texas by George Oxford Miller

• Native Texas Plants: Landscaping Region by Region by Sally and Andy Wasowski

• How to Grow Native Plants of Texas and the Southwest by Jill Nokes

• Bringing Nature Home and Nature’s Best Hope by Doug Tallamy.