HELENA — Flowers need care and attention to thrive, including the flowers in the hanging baskets in downtown Helena, but who cares for those flowers? Viewer Mick Waterman wanted the answer to that question, and MTN found out—the flower baskets are a team effort.
The Helena Business Improvement District purchased the flowers from High Country Growers. This year, they bought more flowers than ever.
In all, there were 125 hanging flower baskets downtown—25 more than last year—and 20 barrels—eight more than last year.
Flowers went out downtown in mid-June, and people were out watering them everyday.
“Mike Thiel and Nolan Lister watered them this summer,” Helena Business Improvement District executive director John Dendy said.
Dendy said they sometimes started watering before 5 a.m. to beat downtown traffic.
The entire flower project cost around $20,000.
“We buy $10,000 worth of flowers and it’s probably about that much in labor as well,” Dendy said.
This year, the City of Helena contributed money toward the project.
“The city contributed $8,000 to our labor this year—not just for watering the flowers, but also to help with our trash pickup,” Dendy said. “We pick up the trash downtown as well.”
The flowers got taken down on Wednesday. The next decorations to go up will be holiday decorations.
