It’s a sure sign that summer has officially arrived in Alaska.
A sea of colors will soon beautify Downtown Anchorage as this year’s crop at the Mann Leiser Memorial Greenhouse is ready to go into the ground. Senior Gardener Richard Lott says they grow 70,000 to 80,000 plants per year. Of that, about 1,500 are focused on making downtown more colorful.
Lott said it’s a project that goes back to the early 1990s. “It’s just a really exciting time because that’s just kind of the signal for every Alaskan, at least, that it’s time to enjoy the prolonged daylight,” Lott said.
He said there’s been a lot of trial and error, but when it comes to what grows best, they’ve pretty much got it down to a science. “The geraniums, for example, are an excellent crop, very easy to grow, easy to maintain, lots of vibrant colors as you can see, and they’re pretty much a mainstay of our inventory,” he explained.
They grow everything from seed, which means the greenhouse isn’t always full of color.
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