If you’ve been to Railroad Park in the past couple of weeks, you probably noticed a field of pink grass that looks straight out of Barbieland. The grass, called Pink Muhly, is native to Alabama, provides a nice habitat for wildlife and simply looks awesome!

Learn more about Pink Muhly and why it’s important to Railroad Park.

Pink muhly now in bloom

To learn more about the significance of Pink Muhly at Railroad Park, Bham Now spoke with Lea Ann Macknally, President of Macknally Land Design—the professional landscape architectural firm responsible for the landscape at Railroad Park.

“Pink Muhly is a grass that is native to Alabama, and although it’s more commonly found in the coastal areas, the ‘heat sink’ in downtown Birmingham creates the perfect conditions for the Muhly grass. When we were researching grasses and wildflowers to plant at the park, we thought that Pink Muhly would be a great medium-high grass that would show out in the fall—and it has lived up to those expectations!”
Lea Ann Macknally, President, Macknally Land Design

According to Lea Ann Macknally, the Pink Muhly provides numerous benefits to Railroad Park:

As a native grass, Pink Muhly provides habitat for birds and wildlife in the park.
Planted along the slopes of the park, the grass helps control erosion throughout the park.
The grass itself is very low-maintenance, drought-tolerant and doesn’t require fertilizer.

In addition, the Pink Muhly is self-maintaining and doesn’t need to be mowed—in fact, the only thing that park maintenance does is pull out invasive species in the grassy areas!

“The original plant mix for Railroad Park had four native grasses as a base of the plants on the hillsides. Over time, the Pink Muhly has really thrived in that environment. You never know how the plants are going to react in the microclimate, and nothing like that had been done in downtown Birmingham before, but year after year the Pink Muhly has shown that it’s a healthy ecosystem.”
Lea Ann Macknally, President, Macknally Land Design

How long do I have to see Pink Muhly at Railroad Park?

Want to see the Pink Muhly at Railroad Park? You’re in luck—the unique plant will grow even more vibrant in the next couple of weeks. However, it will begin to fade after around six weeks—so don’t put off visiting Railroad Park!