Pat Brown
Contributing Writer
Christiansburg, Blacksburg and Radford have been decorated for summer with live plants in the ground, in planters and in hanging baskets.
At the Bisset Park bandstand, sedum decorates a stone planter. Sedum tolerates sun and is a hardy grower. It is also a favorite of bees.
The blossoms range from predictable petunias to exotic black “elephant ear” varieties. They are planted in beds, in medians, in sidewalk planters, near municipal buildings and on hillsides.
The flower decorations are evidence of municipal pride, and they are the handiwork of trained municipal horticulturists. Didn’t know your town or city had one of those? Well, they do, and the women and men who currently do this job were all trained at Virginia Tech.
A huge flowerbed on a hill below Radford High School is the single largest flowerbed that City of Radford horticulturist Carly Dove has to maintain.
Made of perennials arranged in hill-friendly arches, the flowerbed greets residents and travelers who are passing by or coming into the town from across the New River.
The bed includes unusual ornamental peppers and popular varieties like ordinary black-eyed Susans, and day lilies, petunias and sedum.
Hydrangeas already decorate four planters in the lot across from the Farmer’s Market, and Dove has just ordered planters to spruce up the market area. At the courthouse, Dove uses lantana, petunias and the dark purple blossoms of Angelonia stalks. Lantana stars again—solo this time– at the Glencoe Museum sign.
Sedum, a perennial, which boasts a flower that changes color three times during a full season, helps decorate medians on Tyler and West Main.
Near Bisset Park’s gazebo, a dramatic arch of sedum blooms in a raised bed made of stone. The flowerbed at Riverview Park is slated for an overhaul next year, Dove said.
Perennials, which come back each year, require weeding and mulch. Dove has one full-time employee on her crew and two seasonal workers. Dove said a couple members of Radford’s Beautification Commission have talked about volunteering to help with weeding, and she hopes they meant it.
One of Dove’s assistants, Victoria Woffenden, already has a horticulture degree from Tech, and is considering returning to school to become an arborist.
This is Dove’s fifth year at the horticultural helm in Radford. She says the weeds that challenge her and her crew the most are thistles.
“I order crazy stuff,” said Micheal (sic.) Huesman, Christiansburg’s horticulturist for the past eight years. “I like to try new things.”
How do Christiansburg residents like his exotic choices?
“Unfortunately I don’t get a lot of feedback,” Huesman said.
Huesman researches new ideas from September to November. “I love that I get to look at plants all year long,” he said. He attends trade shows and pours over plant catalogues, but when planting time comes around, he is outside with his small crew of two or three people.
“Planting is an important time. I like to make sure it’s done properly,” he said.
Latanas are planted along Main Street in front of a public parking lot across from the Radford Theatre.
True to his penchant for experimenting, Huesman this summer has used an orange begonia, “to see how it works.” Planters along Main Street have cannas in the middle, surrounded by sweet potato vines that shimmer like hula skirts on a breezy day.
Huesman’s favorite flowerbed is the vibrantly colored collection at the entrance of Christiansburg Aquatic Center.
Most of the plants Huesman uses are annuals that will not bloom again next year. The exotic black elephant ears that form the center of some planters are an exception. Huesman will dig them up and attempt to preserve them over the winter for use next summer.
“When I’m driving around I’m looking at plants, trees and grass,” Huesman said.
Hanging baskets provide a big color splash on the streets of Blacksburg, where Beth Carson is horticulturist.
On the town’s light poles, the crew has hung pairs of abundantly filled flowering baskets. The total number of flower baskets decorating Main Street, College Avenue and Draper Road is 254. Each hanging basket contains a water reservoir and almost two gallons of water.
“We have to water three times a week unless there’s been a lot of rain,” Carson said. Watering has to occur between 3:30 and 6:30 a.m., Carson explained. “Downtown traffic gets so heavy,” she said, “and people don’t want our trucks in the way.”
Carson says she often gets suggestions from grower Jay Smith at Crow’s Nest Nursery in Price’s Fork. The nursery can provide seeds and plugs (small starter plants) and they nurture the young plants in greenhouses until May, when they can be planted outside.
Blacksburg puts on its flowery finery in time for the week of Virginia Tech’s graduation and baskets come down around the second or third week in October. “We give baskets a good haircut after July 4 and a couple more times each year,” Carson said.
Carson adheres to an amusing formula for filling baskets with three different plant varieties: “You need a thriller, a spiller and a filler,” she said of the contents.
“We plant in technicolor, Carson said, emphasizing that each basket is vibrant and unique.
In addition to the baskets, Carson’s team is responsible for median plantings on South Main, beds on Price’s Fork Road, the flowerbeds at Alexander Black House and around the Farmer’s Market. There are also 50 to 60 planters on Main Street and College Avenue that require their attention.
While the weather is still good, residents can enjoy the colors and textures of gardens and planters throughout the New River Valley. If you like what you see, the experts might like to hear from you.
