In the Prairieland area at the 2009 Prairie Fest, more than 120 children used mud and native wildflower seed to create "seed balls" for distribution at Tandy Hills Natural Area.
Seed balls are a perfect vessel to deliver wildflowers. Protected from predatory insects, rodents, birds and other animals, seed balls lie dormant until sufficient rains fall to start their germination. Then hundreds of sprouts explode from each ball as they eagerly reach for the sun.
Click on the photo to the left to view the making of seed balls.
On Saturday, May 9, after the seed balls had dried, families, scouts, and Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area participated in a "Prairieland Wildflower Ball" dispersing the seed balls into a restoration site within Tandy Hills Natural Area. Woody plants were recently removed from this site so that native prairie plants might re-establish themselves.
Click on the photo to the left to view children and adults dispersing the seed balls and helping to restore the prairie.
Tandy Hills Natural Area (THNA) is a 160-acre indigenous remnant of Fort Worth prairie located in the heart of Fort Worth, Texas. The land was obtained by the City of Fort Worth Parks Department in the 1960s and designated a “natural area” in 1987. Since 1990, the park has been managed by the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge.
Noted for its unusually complete collection of prairie flora, THNA contains more than 500 native plant species. The land is a living demonstration of how most of Fort Worth and the Great Plains appeared in predevelopment times. The show of spring wildflowers is unsurpassed in the Metroplex.
