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Keeping the “City in a Park” green, healthy, safe and welcoming takes much more than mowing the grass.
Every day, Farmers Branch Parks and Recreation employees are checking irrigation systems, trimming trees and shrubs, managing weeds, picking up trash, replacing plants, repairing infrastructure and tackling projects large and small across the city. Much of that work happens quietly. When it is done well, residents may never notice it.
With more than 30 parks, miles of trails, athletic fields, gardens, medians and green spaces woven throughout the community, the Farmers Branch Parks & Recreation Department divides much of the city into two maintenance districts, with employees assigned responsibility for specific properties. Those crews handle the day-to-day needs of their areas, including trash collection, shrub trimming, weed management and inspection and adjustment of irrigation systems.
They are supported by specialized crews that work throughout the city. An irrigation crew focuses on the extensive system required to keep landscapes watered, while other employees handle specialized projects, construction, welding, concrete work and tree maintenance. When larger jobs arise, crews can combine their skills and work together.
The city contracts out some mowing, allowing parks employees to devote more time to skilled maintenance and improvement projects that otherwise might require outside contractors. That can include rebuilding landscaped areas, replacing irrigation systems, installing plants and completing construction work.
Doing the work in-house can take longer than hiring a contractor to complete an entire project at once. Crews may work on improvements a little at a time while continuing to maintain their assigned properties, but the approach allows the city to use its own employees and expertise to complete more projects.
Some of the most important maintenance begins before there is a visible problem.
Farmers Branch manages its chemical applications largely in-house, giving staff greater control over what is applied, when it is used and how landscapes are treated. A strong pre-emergent program helps prevent weeds from becoming established in the first place, reducing the need for additional treatments later and helping turf remain healthy.
That preventive work extends beyond parks to landscaped medians and other city-maintained areas. Once weeds become established, bringing a landscape back under control requires significantly more work. Consistent maintenance allows crews to stay ahead rather than continually trying to catch up.
Trees are another major part of maintaining Farmers Branch's park system and its identity as a City in a Park.
The city has maintained its Tree City USA designation for decades. Tree-related work performed by parks and other city departments contributes to the city's continued participation in the national program.
A previous city inventory counted approximately 7,000 to 8,000 trees, although that inventory is several years old. Storms, disease, drought and other factors have changed the urban forest since then, and the city will eventually need a new tree inventory to better document the species, location and condition of its trees.
Crews routinely trim and maintain trees, but sometimes maintenance means removing one. Older trees, including those at Rawhide Park, are monitored for health and safety. Trees may need to be removed when their condition deteriorates or they pose a hazard.
Texas weather makes that work more challenging. Windstorms and ice can damage mature trees, while extended dry periods require staff to balance the water needed to keep trees and landscaping healthy with the city's responsibility to conserve water.
Plant selection is increasingly part of that equation. As landscapes are renovated, staff considers trees and plants that are better suited to North Texas conditions and can tolerate drought while still providing the greenery residents expect from Farmers Branch.
Sometimes good maintenance also means recognizing when a landscape needs to change.
Rose rosette disease has challenged the city's rose gardens for about a decade and became particularly severe during the past year. Many roses have now been removed from the rose garden at Gussie Field Watterworth Park, and affected areas will be given time to recover before roses are replanted.
In the meantime, the city is considering hardy hibiscus, ornamental grasses, perennials, wildflowers and native plants for those spaces. The changes are part of the balancing act parks employees face throughout the city: Landscapes need to be attractive, but they also need to withstand North Texas heat, use water responsibly and be maintainable over the long term.
Parks employees also help build and install some of the amenities residents see throughout Farmers Branch.
That recently included the installation of three public art pieces along Mercer Parkway as part of the West Side Art Trail, the Manske Library StoryWalk Trail and the Rawhide Trail improvements.
The same team responsible for trees, turf, irrigation and landscaping includes employees who can weld, pour concrete, install irrigation and help construct improvements throughout the city.
Behind every trimmed tree, healthy stretch of turf, landscaped median and new improvement is a team working year-round to maintain Farmers Branch as a City in a Park.
