May 17, 2018

City Crews Ready To Paint Parks With Floral Splash

City Greenhouse Specialist John Berglund and his staff have raised more than 30,000 plants, flowers, shrubs, bushes and grasses to be planted in many of the City's parks and presentation areas beginning next week. City Greenhouse Specialist John Berglund and his staff have raised more than 30,000 plants, flowers, shrubs, bushes and grasses to be planted in many of the City's parks and presentation areas beginning next week. (City Photo/Darrell Shoemaker)

City's Greenhouse Raises 30,000 Annuals for Planting

RAPID CITY--As an artist uses the parallel palette for oil painting to bring a blank canvas to life, City Greenhouse Specialist John Berglund is getting ready to use plant palettes to bring a little splash of color to the City's parks.

            For the past several weeks, Berglund has been nurturing thousands of flower plants at the City's Greenhouse off Canyon Lake Drive in west Rapid City and City staff has been preparing park areas by mowing and sprucing up garden and presentation areas.  Next week, Berglund and crews from the City's Parks department will begin planting flowers and shrubs in the City's parks and entry points

            The City's greenhouse produced and nurtured approximately 30,000 annuals during the winter months.  During the summer months, Parks crews will dedicate themselves to maintaining the flowers, plants, rose bushes and shrubs.  The various flower gardens and frontage areas also include 2,000 rose bushes, which are winterized each fall then uncovered and maintained during the summer months.

            "It's almost show time.  As a staff, we have been patiently waiting for the long winter to be over and temperatures to warm up so we can get out and plant flowers," said Berglund.  "We take great pride in getting the plants started in the greenhouse, sprucing up the park gardens and presentation areas then planting the flowers and maintaining them during the summer months."

            Getting much of the planting attention between the late May and mid-June period will be Halley Park, Wilson Park, Sunken Gardens, Formal Gardens, Omaha Street at the West Boulevard intersections, St. Joseph Street, and the Promenade/Legacy Commons area.

            Last year, Berglund experimented with banana trees in the Formal Gardens area and said the trees held their own and looks forward to nurturing them along for a second summer season, transplanting them to Halley Park.

           City Parks and Recreation Director Jeff Biegler says Parks employees take great pride in their work to beautify the City.

            "The Parks crews take great pride in maintaining the flower gardens," said City Parks and Recreation Director Jeff Biegler. "It takes considerable time and effort but our employees and summer crews appreciate the end result and we know community residents and visitors to our area do as well."

            Much of the planting should be completed by mid-June and crews will continue maintaining the areas throughout the summer.

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Thank you,

Darrell W. Shoemaker | Communications Coordinator

T: 605.721.6686 | M: 605.939.8551

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W: www.rcgov.org

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