Greenhouse workers prepare flowers for Anchorage area

From KTUU: Workers at the Municipal Greenhouse are preparing to plant flowers for the Anchorage, Alaska area. They said they are waiting for the temperatures to warm up before they set the baskets up around downtown.

This year, a crop of 75,000 to 80,000 flowers will be dispersed in Anchorage, Eagle River, Chugiak and Girdwood.

Steve Gray, the horticulture working foreman, said he and other planters began growing flowers in December. They spend more time raising the plants than maintaining them while they're in bloom during the summertime.

Planters said they have been busy landscaping, cleaning, picking up trash, pruning trees and making preparations for the beds. They expect plants to be potted around downtown within the next two weeks, before the Flower Festival in June.

Gray said he sees the flowers as a welcoming symbol for newcomers to Alaska.

"We're setting the spread for all the people who are coming in from out of town, giving them something good to look at and a good impression for them when they go back home," he said.

Extra flower plugs will be sold at the Russian Jack Springs Chalet every Thursday from 1 until 3 p.m.

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