City seeks gardeners willing to pitch in

Wanted — gardeners who want to adopt a flower bed in the City of Port Washington.

That could be the advertisement Port forester Jon Crain puts out as he seeks people willing to take on the duty of tending the flower beds in the city’s parks.

“This is an opportunity for people to get a little creative and, if they don’t have a garden plot, to be able to grow some things,” Crain said. “It can also help people feel a little bit more like they’re part of the community.

 “We have gardens of all different sizes throughout the city.”

Crain noted that other communities have successful adopt-a-garden programs, citing Grafton as an example. That program was started in 1991 at the behest of former trustee Al Schlecht as a way to add color to the village’s parks and open spaces.

In addition, Crain noted, the Ozaukee Master Gardeners maintain the flower bed in the triangle on the north end of Franklin Street.

Crain said anyone who wants to adopt a flower bed would have to work with him to ensure the plants are appropriate.

“We can’t have any invasive species,” he said. 

People would also not be allowed to use herbicides on the beds, he said.

Crain said he is working to organize a city clean-up at the end of April that would prepare the beds for planting.

In return for their work, the city would post a sign at each bed acknowledging the person who maintains it, Crain said.

The project would help the parks department by freeing staff members to do other projects in the city, Crain said.

“We have a lot of projects going on right now,” he said. “We’re able to maintain them (the beds), but it’s a lot of work.”

Anyone interested in adopting a garden is asked to call Crain at 284-2600, extension 1522.