Master Gardeners help Hurley students spruce up Silver Street

By IAN MINIELLY

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Hurley - The area Master Gardeners were out in force on Wednesday in Hurley, matching up with groups of Hurley third grade students. Each Master Gardener and other people that volunteered was paired up with three Hurley third grade students to plant flowers the length of Silver Street.

Darrin Kimbler, horticulture educator for Iron County's University of Wisconsin-Extension Office, said, this was the fifteenth or sixteenth year of the Silver Street planting. Kimbler has been the organizer the last three years, the program has always been quite successful.

The mayor of Hurley, Joe Pinardi, said the kids are so proud of the flowers they plant they often bring their family to Silver Street to show them where they planted and which ones were planted by them. Pinardi thinks it's almost reaching the point that some of the third grade students will be second generation planters, as their mom or dad will have planted when they were in third grade.

Giovanoni's Hardware sells the flowers to the city of Hurley at cost and the city places the flower pots up and down Silver street. The city also comes by every morning to water the plants, because hanging and exposed plants like the ones on Silver Street, need watering daily due to their wind and sun exposure, according to master gardener Zona Wick.

Each barrel was given half a flat of flowers and ornamental grass. According to Wick, the south side of Silver Street is more shaded, so they tend to put the impatiens there, because they do well in shade with limited sun. The petunias, however, are planted on the north side because they do well in the sun.

This years third graders, as fourth grade students next spring, will also plant flowers in various locations throughout Montreal. Each Hurley student gets to plant flowers in the community for those two years.