The RiverFront landscape design creates a colorful, richly textured four-seasons oasis by thoughtfully combining familiar garden plants with hardy native selections. Throughout the park’s 72-acres, about 1,500 trees have been planted, over 100,000 different plants rooted and countless yards of specialty engineered soils have been placed to ensure that The RiverFront is a thriving green space, with year-round visual appeal.

A total of 15 tree varieties were hand selected for The RiverFront considering their size, form and structure, transplanted from farms throughout the Omaha metropolitan area. In the heart of the park, visitors can seek shade in a mixed canopy of birch, locust, oak, maple and elm trees with serviceberries and hawthorns providing seasonal accents along the park’s perimeter. Some trees provide charming spring flowers while others produce brilliant fall foliage, lining great lawns and beautifully curated beds.

The RiverFront also features 55 species of shrubs, grasses, perennials and even aquatic plants, specifically arranged in varying combinations to create intentional garden “rooms” around the park. This includes salt-tolerant plants that border streetscapes and roadways, water-loving varietals in the storm water basins and an assortment of flowering selections to complement the blooming Sculpture Garden.

With bustling concerts and a robust event schedule, the vitality of The RiverFront’s spanning lawn space was also an important consideration. A rhizomatous tall fescue is the turfgrass of choice, renowned for its vigorous growth, deep root systems, fine texture and, most importantly, high tolerance for traffic. Special soils were also trucked into The RiverFront during construction to provide a beneficial base for impending plant life, including a fiber additive to encourage strength while resisting compaction. The RiverFront landscape design also aims to revegetate much of the park space, recreating desirable habitats for some of the small wildlife that call the Missouri River home.