Texas Native Plants Provide a Sense of Place for the New
AT&T Center
by Matt W. Turner
Walking to work at McCombs, I routinely pass the new AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center on University Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard. Imagine my surprise one morning when—the building still incomplete and surrounded by construction rubble—a large and well-developed live oak suddenly appeared at the front entrance, fully planted, as if it had been there all along.
In fact, this tree, and its twin on the south side of the building, are recycled. Until a year ago, they were happily growing on the north side of Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium. The stadium expansion required their removal, and the landscape architect for the AT&T Center, Aan Coleman of Coleman & Associates, knew a good opportunity when she saw it.
As long-lived and stately trees, they are renowned throughout the South, as markers of famous homes, meeting places and events. And their esteem as part of this venerable campus landscape is widely recognized. The transplanted trees, each with root ball and dirt weighing more than 65,000 pounds, made their trip across campus to McCombs on March 9, where, as Coleman says, “they gave the building time.”
This way of thinking, of staying in sync with the immediate context of the Forty Acres and the local climate and environment, pervades Coleman’s entire landscaping plan for the AT&T Center. For instance, 75 percent of the plantings—from betony to zexmenia—are native to the state, which means they will thrive, be thrifty of resources and provide “a sense of place.”
They also exemplify state-of-the-art landscaping and sustainable design practices. Native species, including live oaks, are naturally adapted to our climate and soils, and therefore do not need the extra water, rich soils, pesticides and fertilizers typically required of non-natives. As tough Texans, they actually thrive in the heat and alkaline soils.
Eschewing the usual array of box hedges, marigolds, and petunias—cultivars that are overused to the point of monotony in many commercial plantings—Coleman relies heavily on a gamut of natives from around the state: blooming shrubs from Central Texas, such as Texas mountain laurel and yellow yucca; evergreens such as dwarf palmettos, yaupon hollies and wax myrtles from Southeast Texas; woolly stemodia, a silvery groundcover from the coast; and the far West Texas notables, desert willow and feather grass.
But using native plants in the context of a conference center and hotel is more of a challenge than you might think. For starters, hotel managers typically demand that landscapes be in peak bloom at all times. Outside of Southern California and tropical Florida this can be unrealistic, and with native plants accustomed to seasons, downright vexing.
The answer, in part, lies in some creative jiggering. Coleman will take a summer-blooming shrub such as orange bells (Tecoma stans “orange jubilee”), which dies back almost completely in winter, and pocket it between a native evergreen, such as pale-leaf yucca, and a native fall-blooming grass, like big muhly. The seasonal variety between several natives draws attention away from dormancy and provides year-round visual stimulation.
But the real challenge of landscaping a high-traffic urban center is the site’s immediacy and visibility. While most residential landscapes are designed to be seen from a distance—a street or walkway—plantings at a public venue are literally at your feet, whether curbside, poolside or within the central courtyard. Coleman employs a few carefully selected non-natives to dazzle the viewer from this up-close vantage point. For example, Knock Out rose bears clusters of bright, cherry red blossoms, blooms continuously from May to November, and then sports orange-red rose hips through winter. Developed in 2000, this rose is so tolerant of our heat, alkaline clay soils and pests that it has been designated an “Earth Kind” rose, which means it is among the most thoroughly tested and environmentally responsible plants for use in Texas landscapes.
From well-selected plants from around the state, to the university colors, to the appreciation of live oaks in Central Texas, the new AT&T Center will be well-rooted in sustainable Texana culture.
Matt Warnock Turner, Ph.D. is a naturalist, teacher, and market researcher who works at the McCombs School of Business. He is an active member of the Native Plant Society of Texas, and his first book, Remarkable Plants of Texas: Uncommon Accounts of our Common Natives, will appear in January 2009 (UT Press).
