Designing a beautiful city
Designing celebratory flower beds for the City of Welland is for Dave Steven a career that’s always blossoming.
The lead hand of horticulture and cemeteries for the municipality decided to become a landscape technician because he enjoys design and construction.
He holds a Niagara College diploma in landscape technology, as well as a business diploma.
Although Steven creates the designs for five gardens located throughout the city, he says it’s a team effort. Nine city workers maintain the flowerbeds each day to ensure they look good.
The flowerbeds Steven creates and maintains with his staff can be seen from a number of major roadways.
Tuesday afternoon, Steven and his partner, Frank Reddon, a Class A gardener, were working on a volunteer firefighters flowerbed on Prince Charles Drive. They say the crew usually has three celebration-themed gardens to design for the year, but this year there are five milestone anniversaries and celebrations.
The flower beds include a Canada 150 design and a Niagara College 50th anniversary design.
Each year Steven receives dozens of applications for the following year from local organizations and not-for-profits asking to be featured. Steven says it’s tough picking which ones to showcase, but there needs to be a significant anniversary or celebration.
This year’s deadline for next year’s gardens is Aug. 31. To make a request, people can send Steven an email at dave.steven@welland.ca.
Reddon and Steven agree they enjoy the diversity and challenges of the job.
Reddon says every year is different and they are faced with new challenges. Some summers are drier than others, which means plant maintenance will be different from a wetter summer.
Reddon says it’s also “tremendously satisfying” to see a design come to fruition in the summer.
“The whole process is fascinating, from paper to ‘this,’” Reddon says.
Steven will brainstorm a number of design options during the winter. Each year new plant varieties are used to ensure a fresh look.
“It’s always something new for me and I love a challenge … (and) the community feedback that I get about these beds,” Steven says.
People constantly stop to tell him and his crew how much they enjoy the gardens. He says the feedback is always great and makes him proud of what he does.
“It’s nice knowing people actually look at them and appreciate them — it makes you work that much harder.”
The flowerbeds initially have tulips in the spring. After May 24 the bulbs are removed and the flowerbeds transform. The gardens will transform again about Thanksgiving with the removal of the designs and replanting of the tulip bulbs.