OPAL MUNGER PHOTO
MEEKER | Every spring, flower boxes spring up around downtown Meeker. Behind the scenes, Deneè Dinwiddie’s Agricultural Business class at Meeker High School is hard at work preparing the plants for their entry into the public.
Currently, the Meeker High School Agriculture Department is renting out Katie Day’s greenhouse out of town, near Samuelson’s.
“The Days are a wonderful family that gives to the FFA and Ag Education department with their time, knowledge, and resources,” agricultural department teacher Deneè Dinwiddie said via email communication.
The old greenhouse, positioned on the south side of the old high school building, was demolished alongside the old building in 2020. After construction of the new high school building, talk of a new greenhouse came up, but the plans kept shifting.
Several community members, as well as school board members, advocated for the construction of a new greenhouse and helped secure the necessary funding to do so. This year, the Colorado Greenhouse Builders started constructing a greenhouse in the north ag lot.
Typically, the Horticulture class takes on this project. There isn’t a Horticulture class this year, so Ag Business took on the task of growing the flowers. Because of this, there won’t be a garden vegetable and plant sale this year. Dinwiddie is using this opportunity to demonstrate important business concepts to her students.
Dinwiddie emphasized that, “The greenhouse serves as a great teaching tool for plant science, ag business, chemistry, biology, and one of my favorites: work ethic!” She also values the project because it allows for her students to understand the importance of giving back to the community.
The Meeker High School Agriculture Department plants the flowers as a part of “The Meeker Beautification Project,” alongside the Meeker Chamber of Commerce and ERBM Recreation and Park District. The Chamber of Commerce collects community feedback on the flowers through a survey each year. This past year, community members indicated that they would like to see more variety in the flowers.
This influenced Dinwiddie’s decision to shift more towards wildflowers this year. The new lineup of flowers for this year includes sunbursts, petunias, dahlias, capellas, and several other colorful plants.
Dinwiddie expressed some hesitation at first due to the fact the department had never grown some of these flowers before. “Excellent recordkeeping and journaling has been key in coming up with thriving arrangements,” Dinwiddie explained when asked about obstacles in the project.
Another obstacle the Meeker Beautification Project faces is vandalism of the flower boxes, especially during the Fourth of July celebrations held downtown. People sometimes pick the flowers. They’ve also been known to try to share beer with the flowers. For this reason, Dinwiddie does her best to keep a few extra flower boxes at her home during the summer.
This year, the ag department is donating the remainder of the surplus flowers to the New Eden plant bedding sale, which will happen later on in the spring.
By OPAL MUNGER | Special to the HT