You may have noticed that a portion of Central Avenue from 27th to 37 Avenues NE was on fire one day this past August. The fire was actually a controlled burn that was authorized by the DNR and carried out by Prairie Restorations, as part of their work on the Central Avenue medians.

Because the original planting of native prairie grasses and wildflowers in 2012 has not proven to be successful, Prairie Restorations is now in the process of replanting the ten blocks of medians. After burning the vegetation, and scarifying the soil with a harrow, they reseeded the medians with a mix of grasses (including Little Bluestem, Side Oats Grama, Blue Grama and Prairie Dropseed) and wildflowers (including Yarrow, Butterfly Weed, Purple Prairie Clover, Black-Eyed Susans and Golden Alexandria, among other varieties).

Prairie Restorations is doing this second round on the medians at no charge due to the previous failure. They believe the second planting will be more successful in combating invasive weed growth due to better timing and better site preparation. They have also included a larger proportion of flower seed in the mix. Their crews will be conducting spot mowing and weeding into the fall season and they expect to see good native grass development by next season, with possibly also a Black-Eyed Susan bloom.