A few days each fall, dozens of volunteers give up their Saturday morning to help Tulips on Troost plant thousands of bulbs along the East Side artery. So far that sporadic engagement has served the effort well: more than 200,000 flowers have brightened the Avenue over the past three years. But Maureen Lunn, the group's organizer, is looking for a few green thumbs to dig a little deeper.
You've heard of the Highway Patrol's Adopt a Mile program. Well, Lunn is hoping a dozen Kansas City groups will Adopt a Garden at 54th and Troost.
It's a pretty sweet deal if you're into gardening or community beautification. Lunn will set you up with a six-by-six-foot plot in the new garden just across the street from Coffee Zone. She'll hook you up with a bunch of free tulips -- and even take color requests if you've just got to have bright red or deep purple blooms. Then, she'll schedule a time to meet up with your group and show you how to plant them. All you have to promise her in return is that your group maintains the Dutch blossoms through the year.
Lunn won't mind a little advertising or artistic expression, either. "As long as we have the space, volunteers can even design shapes or words with their tulips," she says. "We want the plots to be a way for groups to promote their organization, so they can either use tulips to do that, or they can put a sign by their plot that shows who planted it."
The deadline to sign up is December 4. E-mail Maureen@tulipsontroost.com or call 816-523-5553 if you're interested.
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Correction: Coffee Break, not Coffee Zone (thanks Caroline). We are partnering with UMKC, who owns the lot at 54th & Troost, to use it for our adopt-a-garden program. I understand your point as far as the location, but nevertheless we are thankful for UMKC's generosity in letting us plant their entire lot. If you know of other vacant lots on Troost that would be willing to let us take over, then we would be happy to do so! I hope that provides some clarification. (And of course, while the adopt a plot is at 54th, we continue to plant tulip beds all along Troost).
Coffee Zone? Not the Coffee Break? And why adopt that intersection when it's right across from Rockhurst (or on their property, if that picture is to be believed). Shouldn't they pick a location on Troost in more need than that one?
great article, and great cause, but i think troost is a midtown artery, not an east side artery. it's not an "east side" artery just because it's the historic racial dividing line in kansas city. i'd say that paseo or even prospect would be the start of the "east side"
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