WHILE YOU’RE HERE
Flowers at the airport A
sea of red and white will greet travellers this summer when they land in Winnipeg. Maggie
Folkers, the grower at T & T Seeds started planning and planting back in April to be sure everything would look stunning for people coming to and leaving the airport. “We’ve got over 1,800 plants in
various stages of growth and prepa- ration,” said Maggie when Te Hub spoke to her in May. It’s going to look wonderful this year. Te red and white theme was chosen to remind international travellers that they are in Canada, she explained. Making the airport look beautiful is a huge job. Not only are the gigan- tic 60-inch-diameter, round planters filled with 25 to 30 plants each, but there are 25-foot, three-tiered plant- ers at the entrance, and down at ground level there is another huge, hundred-foot bed. Te airport also does the plants at the bus depot.
68 • Summer 2014 In typical Winnipeg fashion, ev-
eryone pitches in to make all this happen. T & T Seeds supplies the plants and the planting recipes, but the staff at the airport look after the actual labour, doing all the planting on one very busy day they call “greening day.” Te air- port maintenance crew also takes care of watering, using a big water- ing truck to cover all the pots and plantations. “We tried to choose plants that
are very dependable and somewhat drought tolerant,”
says Maggie,
who adds that wind is an issue in some locations. “It just blows some of the tall plants right out of the containers,” she laughs. Te round planters are very shallow, so special attention is being given to the pot- ting mix to keep them more mois- ture-retentive this year. Nutrition is also key for bedding and container plants and Kevin Twomey, owner of T & T, is recommending worm
tea for strong roots and better nu- trient take up. What plants are being used? Red and white petunias, geraniums and salvia, for sure, along with some of the dwarf canna and purple foun- tain grass for height. Cheery little yellow bidens will add contrast to the planters. In the huge ground- level bed by the parkade, a brilliant display of yellow marigolds will be set off by some black petunias or other dark-coloured flowers. Down in the shady arrivals level, impatiens, wax begonias and coleus will take centre stage. Maggie, who has been in the landscape business for 44 years, is very excited to see how it all looks in August. “We want it to look very full and lush,” she says. Take note yourself and it if pleases you, be sure to tweet about it to congratulate the airport staff on their great work keeping it all growing so happily.
The Hub
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