By: Claire Tribble
As many of you know, the Athens-Limestone Beautification Board partnered with the Advanced Agriculture class from the Limestone County Career Technical School for the Downtown Project. If you’ve never heard of the Downtown Project, we have large, concrete pots filled with the bright, beautiful annuals that line the sidewalks downtown. This is a project that was started in the early 2000s and is still going and growing! With the sun shining and warmer days and nights, we are itching to get started with the spring planting.
Back in the fall, the students worked hard to help us empty the summer annuals and replace them with pumpkins and the colorful fall pansies. They took the annuals they removed back to the greenhouse at Tanner High School to learn how to propagate and root the plants. They were able to practice their newly learned skills, and it paid off! The Beautification Board toured the greenhouse last week, and the tables were filled with bright, beautiful blooms. It was quite the site. Hanging baskets were starting to fill in, and they looked great. To say that we were impressed with and proud for the Advanced Agriculture students is an understatement!
With the warmer and sunnier days, we are itching to get started with the spring planting. We can’t wait to see the bus pull up loaded with students and plants to get busy. I think everyone is ready to see those bright summer colors after such a long winter. We plan on starting the first week of April. If you feel inspired to get your hands in some dirt, reach out and I’ll send you the details. We always welcome volunteers!
The students didn’t just grow our plants, they grew plants for their annual plant sale! Their tables were filled with blooms, succulents, grasses, and a few vegetable plants that will all be available to purchase. This year, it will be held on April 12 from 8 a.m.-noon at their greenhouse at Tanner High School. The greenhouse is behind the school, you turn off of Huntsville Brownsferry Road onto the road in between the school and the cemetery. Just follow that road to the back and you’ll spot the greenhouse. The proceeds from the plant sale will go back into the program to help them grow!
By: Claire Tribble – Executive Director, Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful
March 21, 2025
