Kansas City has made a lot of changes in preparation for the 2026 World Cup. In addition to stadium improvements and increased public transportation, five entities came together to show our city pride in the way we know best: with native plants! The Missouri Department of Conservation, Jackson County Sport Complex Authority, KC’s Native Pitch, Sur Landscape Architecture, and Deep Roots KC joined forces. The shared goal is planting more native plants where they can be seen by the many anticipated visitors. On Tuesday, November 4th, 2025, around 100 volunteers met at the Truman Sports Center to help plant 5,600 native plants in the ground covering about 5000 square feet of island space.
Photos: Maddie Ball
Our own Cydney Ross summed up the shared goal of all these volunteers and organizers: Celebrating the best of Missouri on the world stage.
“I want to see Kansas City on the screen and make it recognizable, right? And native plants do that. So, though we’re excited for the World Cup, my personal goal is for this to be a long-term project that brings beauty and excitement to the folks who are coming to the sports complex center,” said Ross.
Clay soil, full sun exposure, and our hot dry summers will be the ideal setting for these plants. It will showcasing the maintenance benefit of putting native plants in the ground that are designed to thrive in our climate and soils.
Six native species were selected for this project, two grasses and three perennial flowers.
Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis)
Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
Purple Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe involucrata)
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea Purpurea)
Lanceleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
While the beauty of these plants is hopefully appreciated by those who drive by, their purpose in our native ecosystem is much grander. Plantings like these support our local ecosystem, the fauna that make up its intricacies, and the health of the environment that surrounds us all. The visuals and signage will also inform our community about the services these plants provide and hopefully inspire more people to plant native habitats. After all, what you plant matters!
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