2015 SUCCESSional Pocket Park

On Octo­ber 24, 2015, Exxon­Mo­bil part­nered with Baton Rouge Green to cel­e­brate Nation­al Neigh­bor­woods Month by installing a new pock­et park designed to improve a blight­ed lot on Sor­rel Avenue in North Baton Rouge. This SUC­CES­Sion­al Pock­et Park is designed to fit on aban­doned, blight­ed prop­er­ties and are basi­cal­ly ​“place hold­ers’ that keep vacant lots vis­i­bly neat and easy to care for whether they are devel­oped or not.

Over 30 vol­un­teers from the com­mu­ni­ty, the neigh­bor­hood, stu­dents from the South­ern Uni­ver­si­ty Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Coali­tion, LSU Land­scape Archi­tec­ture & Epis­co­pal High stu­dents came togeth­er to install native trees and shrubs such as Chalk Maple, Swamp Red Maple, Iron­wood, Oak­leaf Hydrangea, Hair­wan Muh­ly Grass, Dwarf Pal­met­to and Lit­tle Bluestem just to name a few.

The con­trived lay­out and plant design strong­ly imply: ​“DON’T DUMP TIRES, DEBRIS, REFUSE, ETC. HERE!” The design relies on the form and habits of native suc­ces­sion­al plants & trees to cre­ate a PUB­LIC space that can be enjoyed by the community.

These parks use suc­ces­sion­al ecol­o­gy to com­ple­ment suc­ces­sion­al land uses. We use mid­dle to late suc­ces­sion­al species that estab­lish read­i­ly, are durable, and have a desir­able lifes­pan to growth rate ratio. Pock­et park plants should not get so big that they dom­i­nate the site or cre­ate a haz­ard in hurricane/​storm con­di­tions. If sys­tem devel­ops and pro­gram­ming calls for anoth­er use of the land the park occupies……the lot can eas­i­ly be cleared to make way for the next system/​land use. If the sys­tem remains con­tin­ues as is the park plants and hard­scape can eas­i­ly be ​“refreshed” in a few decades to ensure its vigor.