Many people are surprised by the tall grasses and flowering plants that pervade High School Park and don't conform to the straight lines and neat edges of standard parks.
What makes High School Park unique is that it is predominantly filled with native plants-plants that were originally here in our area before European settlers came and started planting species from their homelands.
Native plants have many advantages over nonnative plants:
• They tend to be easier to care for because they are adapted to the growing conditions of our area-they need less watering and pest control and are more heat-tolerant.
• Less energy resources have to be expended on their upkeep-they rarely need to be mowed, fertilized, or have pesticide applications.
• They provide needed food and shelter for native birds, butterflies and other wildlife. A native park is a natural oasis for wildlife that is rapidly disappearing from our area due to urban and suburban development.
• They prevent soil erosion and water runoff. Their roots hold onto the soil and quickly soak up the rain during major storms. They also filter and purify fresh water before it makes its way into streams.
• They provide a historical oasis for people who want to see what the landscape looked like before European settlers arrived in our area.
• They tend to be less invasive and thus enable more diversity in plant life. Nonnative plants usually have no natural predators or competing plants that can keep their growth in check. So they tend to take over (be invasive) and squelch the large numbers of plant species that naturally reside in a particular area. Japanese honeysuckle and English ivy and are examples of invasive nonnative plants in our area.
