This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Business & Tech

Greening Up Downtown Kirkwood

The Downtown Kirkwood Special Business District keeps the area flourishing, no matter what the seasons may bring.

Mary Hunter enjoys stopping for a few minutes to smell the roses.

Hunter, of Kirkwood, said she loves to walk around Downtown Kirkwood and look at all the beautiful greenery because it makes the neighborhood more inviting and adds beauty to the area.

“I think it brightens peoples’ days,” Hunter said. “I think it makes you feel happier just being around things that are green and fresh and natural.”

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Fortunately for Hunter, Kirkwood Junction's Enhancement and Improvement Committee has this in mind as they embark every year on the Downtown Kirkwood Planting Project that sets up and maintains hundreds of flower beds, bumps out floral arrangements and big synthetic terracotta pots filled with flowers all over the Downtown Kirkwood Special Business District.

The planting takes place within the rectangular area bounded by Bodley, Clay, Taylor and Woodbine Avenues. The project is funded by the business district and operates on an annual budget of $14,000. The project’s overall purpose is to make the downtown area more attractive, said Donna Poe, executive director of the Downtown Kirkwood Special Business District.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

“We want to encourage people to walk around,” Poe said. “If you give people something attractive to look at, they are more inclined to circulate.”

THE PLANTING TIMELINE

The committee usually meets sometime in February to talk about what worked last year and what they want to try differently this year. Members decide on a floral theme. This year, the committee tried to go fashion-forward and picked stylish colors for spring, such as orange and purple. 

After one of the committee member volunteers selects the plants, the committee reconvenes and decides on a mixture for the flowerbeds and synthetic terracotta pots. In May, the committee has a Downtown Kirkwood planting day when volunteers plant and fertilize the flowers on a Sunday morning. The planting process takes less than a day, Poe said.

“When you get all these volunteers together, many hands make light work,” Poe said. “The installation in May takes two-thirds of a day,” Poe said.

SEASONAL THEMES

The committee also has seasonable themes for downtown greenery. Usually in mid-September, the committee begins planting thousands of mums, pansies and ornamental cabbage around Downtown Kirkwood. Then around November, evergreen Christmas greenery is planted because of its tendency to thrive in cold temperatures.

The main source of maintaining the mums is watering. Unfortunately, if there is a cold snap, the business district has to shut off the water source to prevent the pipes from freezing. Poe said that some of the mums live through a good part of the winter, so they leave the mums in as long as they look good. The length of the season that mums can be watered varies from year to year.

“It’s always interesting doing this in Missouri, because you never know what kind of weather you are going to get,” Poe said.

KEEPING IT GREEN IN THE INTENSE HEAT

This year has been especially difficult for the flowers and plants in the downtown area, Poe said. Not only did Kirkwood experience a very rainy spring, but also some of the plants were wet from rain when they were planted. Shortly after, the weather got very hot.

The sustained heat wave that engulfed the St. Louis area in July and August has made watering rough for Kirkwood employee Greg Sercl. Sercl, who started work before dawn, said he devoted six hours a day and a 1,000 or more gallons of water to watering the plants.

Some of the effects of the heat and lack of rains is that the flower on the islands of Argonne Drive don’t look as good as they usually do and weeds are “running rampant” in many of the flowerbeds. This, Serel said, meant the weeds sucked up moisture intended for flowers and plants.

“There are more weeds in the flower beds because Greg is spending so much time watering and not weeding,” Poe said.  “But at least the weeds are green” and look pretty  “from a distance.”

Learn more about the Downtown Kirkwood Special Business District here.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Kirkwood