Why we don’t mow the NBC-5 front yard.

A lot of people who come visit at the NBC-5 Studios on Broadcast Hill in East Fort Worth ask; “why don’t you guys mow your front yard?” That is a reasonable question, given that the grass, weeds and things sprouting and blooming are in places 3 or 4 feet tall.

There is a reasonable answer; we can’t. In fact, we are prohibited by law from cutting this grass, because it is protected “Prairie Grass,” and dotted with protected wild flowers. Not only does NBC-5 have a Texas Historical Marker in our front yard, our front yard itself is historic.

This preserved Prairie Grass blankets a gently undulating hill that is covered with the same puffs of wild Milk Thistle seed pods that dotted the countryside when Fort Worth was not a town at all but a wide spot on the west fork of the Trinity River. When you look closely at these over sized dandelion like puffs, you can appreciate the beauty that deserves to be preserved, until a warm breeze shakes the seeds loose to find a new home.

Add to this thickly woven carpet are buttercups, flower aficionados cal them genus Ranuculous, delicate little flowers that soak up the yellow of the sun. They are joined by splotches of purple blossoms and purple stalk like flowers, both of which I am yet to identify. All woven together, this painting by mother nature is quite a canvass. While some of these grasses and flowers tend to cause David and me a bit of sinus misery, the feast for the eyes is worth the trouble.