Design Points
- One of the most open, un-planted areas in all of North Oak Cliff
- The Medians are from Oak Cliff Blvd to the Cockerel Hill city limits, just west of Westmorland
- Some Medians are up to 90' wide and upwards of 300' feet long - and NO TREES!!! (with the exception of a Crapemyrtle forest at Sunset High School)
- Idea is to make it more "humane" and walk-able
- Areas of forest like canopies and areas of open native prairie grasses and wildflowers
- The major plantings will follow the "serpentine" like pattern of Jefferson Boulevard - and at points where there is grade change, this too will be enhanced.
- Porous walking surfaces / handicap accessible - i.e. compacted decomposed granite.
- Native and adaptive trees and plant material - all medians will have a repetition of certain species be the (i.e. Burr Oaks / Sugar Maples / Vitex / Compact Texas Sage) - with the opportunity for each individual median be "adopted" by certain groups, neighborhoods, individuals to augment as deem appropriate. In other words, the Master Naturalist’s can do an all "Texas Native" planting. But it should never be an all "native-only" experience in every median. There are many plants that do as well as natives and are drought tolerant. Also, when using more common plant material, planting un-common varieties should be used (i.e. Crapemyrtles that have unusual colors, bark and fall color)
- Foliage that turns vibrant colors and has fruit in the fall/winter should be used as much as possible.
- At the very least the overstory trees should be planted, but to do more plantings will require additional funding - maybe naming rights, like the Governor Ann Richards or Ruth Chenoweth Memorial Median. Also have companies help out, like Tom Thumb, Burger King, Churches, Shell, Exxon-Mobil, etc.
- Possibly have "monument" signs to announce the individual neighborhoods.
- At no point should plants that require excessive maintenance or watering be used - the only exception would be urn / planters that have seasonal color, but even then, very limited use of.
- Although this plan could be more expensive than just staying with the "Mow-mentum Project", it is certainly worth it to Beautify Jefferson Boulevard.