It’s
hard to appreciate the large size of Trinity Park until you’ve been inside it (map1).
Most of the park has paths leading through areas of native trees, but it
also has playgrounds, a miniature train, picnic tables and covered
pavilions. The Trinity Trail for
walkers, runners, and cyclists runs along the whole length of the park (about
1.5 miles, from West 7th Street nearly to Hwy I-30), immediately paralleling
the Trinity River. The Trail continues
beyond the park northward under the 7th Street bridge and on along the
park-like area beside the river. Near
the north end of the park is the peaceful Duck (and Goose) Pond, blocked from
direct traffic from W 7th Street. The Fort Worth Botanic Garden, just across University
Drive, is nearly continuous in native vegetation with Trinity Park ––features
of its trees are noted below.
Trinity
Park stretches over a low area paralleling the west side of the Trinity River,
and like the natural areas in nearby Overton Park and Forest Park, it was
periodically flooded until completion of Benbrook Dam in 1952 –– creek-like
drainage ditches now are cut through the park to drain the water. The plants mostly are characteristic of
bottomlands and low woods in this part of the state. The most abundant and largest trees are bur oak, pecan, cedar
elm, American elm, hackberry, and Berlandier/green ash. In the area immediately bordering University
Drive, the dominant trees are cedar elm and hackberry. Less common but scattered everywhere through
the park are bois d’arc, soapberry, gum bumelia, Shumard oak, white mulberry,
red mulberry, and other species. Black
willow, cottonwood, and sycamore grow near water. Native bamboo (Arundinaria gigantea), a tall,
woody-stemmed grass, forms colonies in a few areas.
Trinity
Park is an excellent place to see and learn to know many of the common and
beautiful native trees of Fort Worth –– walking is easy and shady paths run
closely among nearly all of species that occur in the park. Huge bur oaks appear at nearly every turn,
and even on a short walk, about 10 to 15 of the species are common enough to
appear repeatedly, providing a great learning opportunity (photos).
Here’s a
suggested walking path, a little more than one mile long, that goes close by
nearly all the tree species (map2).
1 Begin near the RR Depot/concession
stand, just in from the main entrance on University Drive across from the
Botanic Garden. In this area are mostly
cedar elms, bur oaks, and pecans -- the concession stand itself is shaded by
two bur oaks.
2
Near the edge of the “undeveloped” woods is a large bumelia (88 inches
in circumference) and a smaller one, both in the midst of numerous cedar
elms. Throughout the park, bumelia
seedlings and saplings are common at bases of trees, where by hugging the
larger trunks they escape being eliminated by the constant mowing. It’s a testament to how much more common
these beautiful trees would be in a natural setting.
3 Walk northward along the gravel
path that runs between the miniature RR tracks and the “undeveloped” woods on
the left, just across the little drainage ditch that runs along the side of the
dense woods.
* The central part of the southern
half of the park has been left alone (shrubs and undergrowth not cleared, not
mowed, etc.). For short, this area
of dense, undeveloped woods is here
called the Thicket. Much of the Thicket
edge is bounded by a creek-like ditch that drains water out of the area –– many
distinctive plants, including non-natives, grow in profusion along these
woods-park interfaces, which are characterized by lots of light and water. Further in, where light is low, the woods
are much less thicket-like. This is a
beautiful place and it’s wonderful that it exists, even in its very limited
area –– to be “improved” only by removal of the invasive species that have
crept in.
*
The non-native glossy privet (Ligustrum lucidum) and Quihoui
privet (Ligustrum quihoui), especially the latter, are abundant along
the Thicket edges –– both are in flower in June and most distinctive and easily
seen then, but with their opposite and mostly evergreen leaves, they are easily
identified any time of the year. Native
hackberry and ash-leaf maple are common small trees along the edges of the
Thicket, as are the introduced chinaberry, white mulberry, and mimosa. The parasol tree, with its large spreading
leaves and smooth green trunks, has only recently begun to become invasive ––
several of these grow along the drainage here.
* The Thicket edges often are
heavily draped with vines, especially catbrier, poison ivy, and racoon
grape. The other common vine throughout
the park, Virginia creeper, covers the lower trunks of many trees –– find it
easily, based on how and where it grows and its 5-parted leaves.
* Small trees and saplings of white
mulberry are common along the drainages and elsewhere. The leaves are amazingly variable in shape
-- from nearly round or heart-shaped to very deeply lobed (as well as toothed
along the edges) -- but still they usually are easy to recognize by their
glossy green surfaces and the strong pair of lateral veins emerging with the
midvein from the very base of the blade.
4 The large clearing into the woods
on the left leads to a maintenance road that runs through the Thicket to meet
the end of the paved cul-de-sac (an extension of Trinity Park Drive; see
11). Along the maintence road is a
great place to see what the inside of the Thicket looks like, since there is no
drainage ditch and the invasive species are not as common. Also see comments at 12.
5 A row of young bur oaks is planted
along the main walking trail, as well as a chinkapin oak or two.
6 At the intersection of the path and
miniature RR with Trinity Park Drive, turn left and walk along the road toward
the irregular junction of Trinity Park Drive with Crestline Road (which enters
the park from University Drive).
At
the junction of Trinity Park Drive and Crestline Road (7, 8, and 9):
7 In the southeastern corner –– there
is a large, beautiful bois d’arc and a smaller one, among pecans, cedar elms,
and hackberries. Late in the afternoon
or early evening a ‘troop’ of racoons (surely finding good places to live in
the Thicket) sometimes comes out to play in the open area and even in the
road.
8 In the northeastern corner –– a
large, multi-trunked cluster of ashes is conspicuous just a little back from
the road. Many of the native ashes in
Fort Worth are Berlandier’s ash, with 3–5 leaflets per leaf and fruits that are
sporadically 3-angled/3-winged, but those in Trinity Park may be mostly a
hybrid form with green ash, which has mostly 5–7 leaflets and consistently
2-winged fruits. Typical Berlandier’s
ash can be seen in Overton Park.
9 Across the street, on the slope
along the bending corner of Crestline Road and Trinity Park Drive, an
interesting collection of species persists from some earlier planting. These all are plants of southern Texas,
perhaps intended to represent a dry habitat, and though the slopes have now
been overrun with Quihoui privet, the plantings are still conspicuous:
leucophyllum, retama, sweet acacia, mesquite, elbow bush, lantana, Texas sotol,
and three species of yucca.
10 From the junction of Crestline
& Trinity Park Drive, turn southward and follow the walking path that runs
along the southeast side of the cul-de-sac (this road usually is blocked to
motor traffic). On the other side of
the street, the natural slope apparently marks the edge of the first terrace of
the river floodplain. The slope is
heavily overgrown with Quihoui privet, but many small live oaks and cedar elms
emerge. The cedar elms surely are
native, but are the live oaks?
Elsewhere in the park (as well as all over the city), many live oaks are
planted –– many or most of these probably are horticultural hybrids between the
coastal live oak (Quercus virginiana) and the Texas live oak (Quercus
fusiformis).
11
At the end of the cul-de-sac (a maintenance road goes off to the left;
see 4):
* Near the picnic table is a
beautiful little tree, a downy hawthorn.
Though there probably are others of the same species in the park, this
apparently is the only one that is large and easy to find. Across the street, the distinctive small,
gray-green tree is a paper mulberry –– probably planted here, although at least
in the Austin area, paper mulberry has become weedy. As the walking trail enters the woods (the Thicket), it is flanked
on the north by a large Shumard oak, on the south by an American elm.
12
Walk southward from the cul-de-sac along the path, which is a corridor
through the Thicket –– large pecans, cedar elms, ashes, bois d’arc are
prominent in this area. Beautiful
little red mulberries, an understory tree with large leaves and low,
wide-spreading branches (adaptations to gathering light in shady places) also
are common along here –– compare these in tree shape and leaf shape and
hairiness with the paper mulberry growing at the end of the cul-de-sac. Near the end of the Thicket corridor, on the
north side, is a colony of the invasive breath-of-spring honeysuckle –– this
shrub is about 6 feet tall, with arching branches.
13
The trail emerges from the Thicket corridor to cross a little iron
bridge and turn back south, parallel with University Drive. Cedar elm is by far the most common species
along here, with individuals of American elm, hackberry, soapberry, and gum bumelia,
and Shumard oak scattered through.
Compare the leaves of the Shumard oaks from one tree to another to see
how they vary in the width and depth of the lobes.
14
The "keep-on-going American elm," a large tree fallen over but
still healthy and growing. Where
there’s life, there’s hope.
15 Front woods -- a beautiful walk
along the winding trail and across a series of iron bridges. The trees here are similar to those back at
13.
“Fort Worth
council approves gas well site next to Trinity Park, with stipulations”
Article by Mike Lee in the
Star-Telegram, 2 September 2009
<http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1580136.html>
“The City
Council approved a gas well site next to Trinity Park but only after approving
a series of stipulations intended to protect the historic Van Zandt Cottage and
a planned retirement home.” The site is within 225 feet of Trinity Park,
a vacant lot at the intersection of Foch Street and Lancaster Avenue, and may
include up to 8 wells. “The permit
stipulates that drilling can continue for two years but will stop for two years
once a planned retirement home opens nearby.”
“Trinity Park is arguably the best-known
park in Fort Worth. It was donated to the city by Maj. K.M. Van Zandt, a civic
booster who also owned a farm. The
family home, which dates to the 1860s or 1870s, is still standing at the
western entrance to the park. It is now
a state historic landmark.”
The
Fort Worth Botanic
Garden is
just across University Drive from Trinity Park, and the native plants there are
similar, for the most part, to those of the Park. After becoming familiar with the trees and shrubs in the park,
anyone will feel at home among those in the Garden, although the diversity
there is much higher because of the many non-native plantings. The Garden is slightly upslope from the
Park, but enough perhaps to be reflected in the much greater abundance of
hackberries all through the Garden.
Some are biased against planting hackberries, but there are many large,
old, and beautifully shaped individuals of it here –– easily recognized at
eye-level by their white trunks with peculiar warty outgrowths (the degree of
wartiness as well as leaf size are variable among individuals).
In
addition to the many plantings of non-native species, to its great credit the
Botanic Garden has planted many young trees of bur oak (and perhaps protected
naturally occurring ones). While their
growth toward a mature size will require a long wait –– from a human perspective
but not from a forest perspective –– this beautiful species is worth the
time.
Along
the front side of the Garden, paralleling University Drive, the most abundant
trees are hackberry, pecan, and cedar elm, with scattered soapberry and bois d’arc. Slightly back, there are areas of
“unmanaged” woods, as in the Park, the edges densely grown with privets (Ligustrum
quihoui and Ligustrum lucidum).
Cherry laurel also occurs in weedy abundance in the Garden (but, oddly,
not in Trinity Park) –– like the privets, it’s an evergreen and produces huge
numbers of edible fruits that obviously are a major food source for birds, the
unwitting minions of man in the homogenization of the world’s vegetation.
The
“Texas
Native Forest Boardwalk,” running about 500 feet, provides an elevated view through
a small area of woods. Hackberries are
the most common tree on both sides of the boardwalk, but at the north entrance
are large bois d’arcs –– and large trees of American elm, pecan, cedar elm,
cottonwood, bumelia, and soapberry, as well as the shrub-like Eve’s necklace,
are scattered but easily found along the short walk. Small individuals of various other species have been planted and
labeled. On the west side of the
boardwalk, thickets of privets and cherry laurel have been left uncleared to
contrast with the east side, where these invaders have mostly been
removed. Among the woody weeds on the
west, one can even find nandina, which is becoming a serious and damaging
invader inside forests across the eastern USA.
A
virtual tour of the Botanic Garden’s “Champion Tree Trail” takes one to trees of Japanese
zelkova, sawtooth oak, California buckeye, English walnut, southern magnolia, jujube,
Lacey’s oak, green hawthorn, and Oklahoma redbud –– each of which is a “DFW
Regional Champion” in size. Among
these, only the green hawthorn (Crataegus viridis) and redbud are native
to the Fort Worth area –– the “Oklahoma” redbud is a thick-leaved form that
occurs in central Texas as well.
Acacia farnesiana Sweet acacia Native to south Texas, planted here
Acer negundo Ash-leaf maple, box elder Native here, naturally occurring
Ailanthus altissima Tree-of-heaven Non-native, naturalized
Albizia
julibrissin Mimosa Non-native, naturalized
Broussenetia papyrifera Paper mulberry Non-native, probably planted
Bumelia lanuginosa Chittamwood, gum bumelia Native here, naturally occurring
Carya illinoiensis Pecan Native here, naturally occurring
Catalpa speciosa Catalpa Native to e USA, naturalized
Celtis laevigata Hackberry Native here, naturally occurring
Crataegus mollis Downy hawthorn Native here, naturally occurring
Firmiana simplex Parasol tree Non-native, naturalized
Fraxinus berlandieriana Berlandier ash Native here, naturally occurring
Maclura
pomifera Bois d’arc, osage orange Native here, naturally occurring
Melia azederach Chinaberry Non-native, naturalized
Morus alba White mulberry Non-native, naturalized
Morus rubra Red mulberry Native here, naturally occurring
Platanus occidentalis Sycamore Native here, naturally occurring
Populus deltoides Cottonwood Native here, naturally occurring
Prosopis
glandulosa Mesquite Native here, naturally occurring
Quercus muehlenbergii Chestnut oak, chinkapin oak Native to Texas, planted here
Quercus macrocarpa Bur oak Native here, naturally occurring
Quercus
shumardii Shumard oak Native here, naturally occurring
Quercus
fusiformis Live
oak Native to central Texas,
some hybrids planted, smaller trees native?
Salix nigra Black willow Native here, naturally occurring
Sapindus drummondii Soapberry Native here, naturally occurring
Ulmus americana American elm Native here, naturally occurring
Ulmus crassifolia Cedar elm Native here, naturally occurring
Dasylirion texanum Texas sotol Native to south & central Texas, planted here
Forestiera pubescens Elbow bush Native here, naturally occurring
Ilex decidua Deciduous holly Native here, naturally occurring
Lagerstroemia indica Crepe myrtle Non-native, planted
Lantana camara Lantana Native to south Texas, planted here
Leucophyllum frutescens Leucophyllum Native to south Texas, planted here
Ligustrum lucidum Glossy privet Non-native, naturalized
Ligustrum quihoui Quihoui privet Non-native, naturalized
Ligustrum sinense Chinese privet Non-native, naturalized
Lonicera fragrantissima Breath-of-spring honeysuckle Non-native, naturalized
Parkinsonia aculeata Retama, Jerusalem thorn Native to south Texas, planted here
Sophora affinis Eve’s necklace Native here, naturally occurring
Yucca flaccida Yucca Non-native, planted
Yucca sp. Yucca Non-native, planted
Yucca sp. Yucca Non-native, planted
Smilax rotundifolia Catbrier Native here, naturally occurring
Rhus toxicodendron Poison ivy Native here, naturally occurring
Ampelopsis cordata Racoon grape Native here, naturally occurring
Parthenocissus quinquefolia Virginia creeper Native here, naturally occurring
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Guy Nesom, www.guynesom.com
Last update 2 September 2009