Hello Spring: Front Royal beautifies downtown

John McDonald, senior maintenance worker for the Front Royal Horticulture Division, tends to the Town’s newly hung, award-winning flower baskets. Photo by Royal Examiner Publisher, Mike McCool.

Springtime bloomed above the streets of downtown Front Royal this week when the Town’s Horticulture Division completed its annual flower basket hangings along E. Main Street and Chester Street.

The Petunias for the 43 baskets are donated each year by the Beautification Committee. The Horticulture Division, which is part of the Town’s Public Works Department, arranges, hangs and maintains the hanging flower baskets, which have earned Front Royal several Beautification Awards along the way for landscaping.

“The Town receives a lot of complements regarding the flower baskets each year from residents and visitors,” Front Royal Interim Town Manager Matt Tederick told Royal Examiner today. “The Town staff is very proud of the baskets each year and enjoy being able to help keep the Historic Downtown area looking nice for the residents and visitors.”

In fact, the Town normally puts up the hanging flower baskets at the beginning of May to coincide with the start of scheduled events, according to Robert B. Boyer, director of Public Works.

“These baskets receive so many complements each year by residents and visitors from other areas,” Boyer said. “We feel this makes the downtown area look nice throughout these months when there’s a lot of events going on and the Town staff takes a lot of pride in doing these baskets each year.”

Boyer explained that when the flower baskets are first hung up, they weigh around 75 pounds. As the flowers grow and grow and grow and grow — draping over the baskets and flowing down toward the street — they end up weighing around 80 to 85 pounds.

The watering depends on the weather, said Boyer, who added that “when it’s dry, we usually water them every other day.”

The hanging flower baskets remain in place around the downtown area through the summer months, he said.

“Every year, once the season is over, the plants are normally starting to die so they’re removed and the baskets are cleaned up and put away” for next year, Boyer said.