Planting hope...

Community "Growning Together" site - Spring 2014

November 10, 2014 blew in with sunny skies and windy warm breezes, along with 120 high school students, eager to plant thousands of daffodil bulbs!!! With shovels digging, bulbs being sent under the ground, and smiles from energetic youth, the day flew by quickly! The planting site is located directly across of the high school campus along Missouri Highway 19.

High School students eager to plant daffodil bulbs.

This was the setting for the “Growing Together” beautification planting site in Owensville, MO at the High School. Planting began in 2011, and has continued under the sponsorship of the Greater St. Louis Daffodil Society, Gasconade County Master Gardener’s and Sherry Bryam’s horticulture students.

Students receiving bulb planting instructions.

The Missouri Dept. of Transportation has a beautification program that fits the growing habits of daffodils. The highway department mows half of the right-of-way in early summer, so we plant on the other half, which is mowed in late summer, giving the bulbs time needed to restore energy.

Students are busy planting daffodils at Community beautification site.

Another set of students at the planting site.

During the winter, students may soon forget the day spent on that beautiful November day, but come spring, the daffodils blooming will bring them back to that day as a reminder of how easy it is to bring color into their world.

More students digging and planting daffodil bulbs

Thank you to everyone who participated this year!


By Cindy Haeffner, President, Greater Saint Louis Daffodil Society
Member of Gasconade County Master Gardeners

Collaboration Produces Colorful Palette

Do you sometimes catch yourself wondering, “Would a massed daffodil planting work there?”

I was caught up in this thought several times when departing the parking lot at the Gasconade County RII School, where my Master Gardener classes are held.  Directly across from the Owensville High School, on MO Hwy 19 stretches a very nice, slightly sloping right-of-way, which ironically happens to be comprised of very good soil not typically found in Gasconade County.  What a perfect location for a mass of daffodils.

Upon contacting the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to discuss planting this area, I was informed that such a planting met the criteria for a MoDOT Growing Together beautification program.  So, I met with our local MoDOT road supervisor to discuss the current mowing practices and schedule, the feasibility of such a planting and where a sign could be placed to recognize the planting,  should it occur (currently, MoDOT has a mandatory seasonal mowing of 15ft from the road’s edge by May 31, with the remainder of the right-of-way getting mowed after  July 1, to provide the necessary habitat for ground-nesting birds).  The delayed mowing area was an ideal location for the planting site, as it would provide the daffodil foliage ample time to mature for next year’s bloom.  An application was submitted and eventually approved, the site was planted, and a sign was erected honoring the Greater St. Louis Daffodil Society, the Gasconade County Masters Gardeners Association, and the Owensville High School horticulture classes, each of whom played an integral role in the endeavor.

Fulfilling a community outreach clause in our organization’s by-laws, the Greater St. Louis Daffodil Society provided the bulbs used for the display, procuring them from local Midwest daffodil growers Oakwood Daffodils, in Michigan, and PHS Daffodils, in Missouri.  The Gasconade County Master Gardeners Association also has a goal to support the local community through volunteering. The hours earned by planting were eagerly put toward maintaining the Master Gardeners’ required yearly hours.  And Ms. Sherry Byrnam’s horticulture classes at the Owensville High School provided much enthusiastic support with students planting and working very efficiently to complete the project (as it turned out, a day out of the classroom to plant daffodils was really a lot of fun!).

Everyone involved enjoyed the project, and the community now reaps the benefits with a colorful palette of springtime daffodils for many years to come.

Bloom results from planting

For more information on how you can support the roadside planting, please contact the Greater Saint Louis Daffodil Society (www.stldaffodilclub.org) or the Gasconade County Master Gardener’s Association.

This article also appeared in the 2013 Summer Edition of The Daffodil Rave newsletter.

By Cindy Haeffner, President, Greater Saint Louis Daffodil Society
Member of Gasconade County Master Gardeners