Students from Spokane Community Colleges partnered to plant flower beds located across from Riverfront Park on Spokane Falls Blvd on Friday, May 14, 2021.
The Downtown Spokane Parking and Business Improvement District (BID) first partnered with the Community College Landscape Management program in 2019, when students designed and planted the hexagonal planters as a team project. For 2021, all the plants were grown at The Greenery, a student-operated flower shop and nursery with three greenhouses where students grow house plants, annuals, perennials, trees and bushes.
Two Landscape Construction classes, totaling 23 students, performed the planting. As a homework assignment, students will studied the plant designs and used them as a blueprint for the eventual planting.
In total, seven beds were planted along Spokane Falls Blvd, between Washington and Howard, and at City Hall. Annually, the downtown BID Clean Team plants and maintains nearly 200 sidewalk planters in the downtown core. “It takes a lot of planning to bring our downtown planters to life,” says Clean Team Director, Karen Fritz. “Working with students not only provides a practical application for their future careers, but is also benefit to downtown, designing resilient and beautiful planters.”
About Downtown Spokane
The DSP is a private, non-profit membership organization that serves as Spokane’s central city advocate and service provider, dedicated to enhancing the quality and vitality of Downtown Spokane as the basis for a healthy region. The DSP accomplishes its mission through advocating for public policies, business and project development, quality planning, physical improvement projects, public safety, beautification, and marketing programs that ensure downtown’s continued success. To learn more, visit www.downtownspokane.org.
About Community Colleges Landscape Management
Associate certificate program of Spokane Community College. Students study turf and ornamental plant materials and build skills in landscape design, construction, installation, bidding and estimating, irrigation and arboriculture. Training includes hands-on experience working with both residential and commercial landscapes. Applicable to landscape businesses; golf course or a city parks department; or transferring to a four-year university related degree.