City prepares to hang 1,000 flower baskets & plant over 100 gardens

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Anchorage’s municipal greenhouses are awash in color right now as the city’s horticultural crews prepare to plant more than 75,000 plants starting next week.

The greenhouses, located in Russian Jack Park, are staffed year-round, but Horticulture Supervisor Annie Dubois said late spring is definitely the busy season.

“We plant 115 beds and we have volunteers who take over an additional 25 beds for us, and then we hang a thousand hanging baskets throughout the city and care for all of them all summer long,” she said.

Dubois said nearly all the 450 varieties of plants the city grows are started from seed in early to mid-January, ready to be planted in May. High-profile gardens at Town Square Park and the famous Anchorage Picture Garden at 15th and L street will likely be planted in the first two weeks of June.

The city’s Parks and Rec Department said funding for flowers has remained relatively the same in the last five years, although utility costs have gone up across the department. In an emailed statement, the department said no cuts have been made to the horticulture operating budget.

Dubois said she appreciates that people enjoy the colorful flowers that bring compliments from both residents and tourists alike.

“I mean it’s impressive to see them around here,” she said, indicating the greenhouse. “But once you get to see them outside downtown, when you are walking around or at any of our parks, it’s quite lovely.”

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