Urban beautification is the rule rather than a buzzword in Roanoke, VA whose 2008 population estimate was 92,344. The City's Parks' Division manages 68 parks and plazas that contain 85 flowerbeds, 400 hanging baskets, 68 aquatic plants and nine water gardens.
Roanoke, located between the Blue Ridge and the Virginia Allegheny Highlands, is a plant hardiness zone 7. "All-America City," top "Digital City" and one of "America's Most Livable Cities" are some accolades awarded to Roanoke over the years.
Incentives and Funding for Landscaping Roanoke
The Valley Beautiful Foundation is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization whose focus is "Improving quality of life in Roanoke Valley through beautification projects." The Foundation's first sponsored project was hanging baskets in downtown Roanoke in 1981. Since then the group has sponsored tree and shrub-planting projects, seminars and Arbor Day celebrations, and Roanoke Valley Greenway programs.
The Roanoke City budget includes annual funding for beautification projects. (Mrs.) Elizabeth T. Bowles, Roanoke City Council member (7/1/76 to 6/30/96), and Vice Mayor (7/1/76 to 6/30/78) was instrumental in seeking introduction of this municipal financial support.
According to Marilyn Arbogast, Parks' Division horticulturalist, "The City has been good to the program and continues its great support." Local garden clubs and civic groups maintain their backing for beautification projects despite economic problems.
Carrying Out of Beautification Projects
Arbogast, a Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Department of Horticulture graduate, has worked as the Parks' Division horticulturalist for 30 years. She is responsible for designing and implementing garden and hanging basket displays. Fourteen permanent employees work with Arbogast along with seasonal workers.
Three zones divide the City into work areas:
- Roanoke River Corridor - including the River Greenway, River's Edge, and Mill Mountain;
- Central Business District – including downtown Elmwood Park, Mill Mountain Greenway, and the area around historic Hotel Roanoke; and
- The Rest of the City – including vest pocket parks and Fishburn Park Rose Garden.
Vandalism, according to Arbogast, is not a huge issue. Beautification projects are highly visible and well secured. Also, residents are respectful of the Division' s hard work.
Seasons of Bloom
- Spring produces beds of perennial daffodils such as 'Ice Follies' that blossom at the same time as 'Bradford Pear' trees. Tulips, planted as annuals, beautify vest-pocket parks (Photo #1). Tulip beds last about three weeks. City residents may obtain bulbs dug after flowering during a spring giveaway day. A form of recycling, giveaway days also save money on landfill expenses.
- Summer presents annuals, perennials planted as annuals, and ornamental grasses in beds throughout the city. They provide a riotous season of color from June until frost. Annuals like Amaranthus 'Perfecta' provide assertive colors to vest-pocket parks (Photo #2), and sizzling color combinations like purple-black ornamental millet with fuchsia Wave Petunias. The Division also holds an autumn giveaway day lottery for residents to obtain dug up annuals and soil.
- Tropical water lilies (Photo #4) bloom during summer months in water tanks that bisect the walkway between downtown Elmwood Park and Franklin Rd., leading to the Historic Farmers' Market. Saucer magnolias (Magnolia X soulangiana) that blossom in spring line the sides of this walkway. Tubers of these tropical water lilies are also part of an autumn giveaway day lottery.
- Hanging baskets (Photo #5) planted with colorful cascading annuals increase in number each season. Baskets along the newly dedicated Martin Luther King Pedestrian Bridge - the First Street (Henry Street) bridge - added to the increase in 2008. Baskets now total over 450, while there has been a size increase from the initial 16-inch-diameter baskets to the current 20-inch-diameter ones. Greenhouse growers bid for contracts to grow container plants for the City. Division employees plant the containers and accommodate them until ready to put out.
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Georgene A. Bramlage - Suite 101 Landscaping Feature Writer and Topic Editor Free-lance Garden and Landscape Writer and Consultant
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