City Parks Crews Planting Thousands of Flowers in Parks, Frontage Areas
Crews from the City's Parks division are planting thousands of flowers in various parks and frontage areas.
(City Photo/Darrell Shoemaker)
GETTING THOSE
GREEN THUMBS DIRTY!
CITY PARKS CREWS PLANTING
THOUSANDS OF FLOWERS
**City parks, frontage areas to receive
boost of color this week
**Popular banana plants to make
another seasonal appearance
RAPID CITY, SD—It’s time to get those green thumbs dirty!
Beginning Monday (May 22), crews are spending several days planting more than 24,000 flowers in some of the City’s parks and entrance areas. The flowers have spent several weeks receiving nurturing care inside the comfortable confines of the City’s Greenhouse. With overnight temperatures consistently landing in the ‘safe’ zone, crews are ready to plant.
City Greenhouse specialist John Berglund advises crews have been out this week tilling and edging flower beds and getting them ready for planting. Berglund has been watching the weather forecasts to make sure there is no threat of frost or freezing temps.
“This is an exciting time for our crews,” said Berglund. “It takes a lot of time and effort behind the scenes to get the flowers ready to plant but the results are well worth the effort.”
Crews are planting flowers in numerous areas, including Halley Park, Wilson Park, the Sunken Gardens area near McKeague Field on Canyon Lake Drive, the William Noordermeer Formal Gardens at Sioux Park and Otto’s Corner on the northwest corner of Omaha Street and West Boulevard.
Berglund said crews will be planting numerous varieties of flowers including multiple varieties of Zinnias, Marigolds and Celosia. Heliotrope, Salvia, Snapdragon, Coleus, Dianthus and Gomphrena flowers will also be a common attraction in City flower beds. And Berglund says the popular gargantuan banana plants will be appearing again this season in Wilson Park. It will be the seventh summer for the banana plants showing up in Rapid City parks.
Volunteers from the West Boulevard Neighborhood Association planted flowers from the City’s Greenhouse in Wilson Park last Saturday (May 20). The group has adopted Wilson Park as part of the City Parks’ Adopt-A-Park Program and helps plant and maintain the flower gardens, pick up litter and other duties.
As the spring and summer progresses, hail is always a concern. Berglund keeps a number of flowers in reserve to plant and replace damaged flowers.