Team Effort

Hillermann Nursery & Florist held many of the communities America in Bloom meetings and sponsored a Residential and Commercial Curb Appeal Competition to promote AIB involvement.

In its mission statement, Hillermann Nursery & Florist in Washington, Mo., vows to deliver a "wow" experience. It's that same desire to make an impact that prompted the garden center to get involved with America in Bloom. Dave Wehmeyer with Hillermann's was a driving force behind the city's AIB initiative. He learned about the program through a friend, Bill Ruppert, who was in charge of the AIB program in Kirkwood, Mo.

To get Washington, Mo., involved, Wehmeyer, Sandi Hillermann-McDonald and Scott Hillermann invited Ruppert to a city council meeting to introduce the program and push for Washington's participation.

Once city officials were on board with the project, a whirlwind of activity began.

Wehmeyer agreed to co-chair Washington's AIB effort with Washington's parks director, but when the director resigned to go accept his dream job, much of the responsibility fell to Wehmeyer.

He didn't bear the weight alone. AIB's slogan is "planting pride in our communities," and Wehmeyer saw that phrase turn into reality throughout the town of about 14,000 residents.

"Nobody realized how much area the Parks Department has to maintain," Wehmeyer says. "The volunteers were amazed how much grass there is to cut and how many trees there are to mulch. People said, 'I would love to be out there helping them, I could plant flowers or adopt a park.' … It brought awareness to the community."

Wehmeyer's role in the company's landscape division made him a valuable resource to the city for the contest.

Wehmeyer offered this breathless rundown of the to-do list:

"I orchestrated meetings, got people involved and informed, helped to form committees, worked with committee members on the AIB book, communicated with a local print shop to create AIB shirts that were used as a fundraiser, contacted organizations to form volunteer groups for planting and maintaining city spaces, designed new annual beds and large combo pots, and planned the judge's itinerary with Mayor Sandy Lucy and Ralph Gildehaus."

AIB judges review and evaluate each community in eight categories: tidiness, environmental awareness, community involvement, heritage preservation, urban forestry, landscaped areas, floral displays, and turf and ground cover areas.

Using that criterion, judges will evaluate efforts made by three unique sectors: municipal/public properties, commercial sector, and private properties/citizens.
 

Making it happen. Hillermann Nursery & Florist itself was also very involved in the process. The facility was used for many of the meetings and for the AIB judge's farewell dinner. The garden center also sponsored a "Residential and Commercial Curb Appeal Competition," and ran plant sale specials to promote AIB.

"The (store's) advertisement of AIB and the residential and commercial competition caused an influx in people wanting to plant color," Wehmeyer said.

Hillermann Nursery & Florist provided the signage used to identify the monthly winners of the Residential and Commercial Curb Appeal Competition. They also presented winners with a $25 gift card. The competition ran from April to October, resulting in $350 worth of gift card contributions.

Behind the scenes, Wehmeyer and others were working hard to win over the AIB judges.

"There was a lot of time involved, but having great committee members and the ability to communicate through email is a must," he said. "My amazing committee members helped to make AIB in Washington a great event that was well worth the necessary time requirements."

Garden- and civic-oriented organizations were mobilized to clean up, plant and rejuvenate areas around the city. Some participants were so dedicated that they were making last-minute adjustments while they donned their Sunday best, moments before the judges arrived.

The judging happened in early July and, from what Wehmeyer can tell, they were impressed by the city's showing.

"Washington has a lot to offer: a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment system, our parks, a state-of-the-art recycling center, the planting itself and our urban forestry division, which planted a lot of native plants," he said. "The judges were impressed with all the different areas in town where we have planted flowers."

Other features that likely helped bolster the city's score included a healing garden in the courtyard of a doctor's office building and a paved walking and bike trail. A possible con was the lack of plants by the city's riverfront, which is due to flooding in the past few years.
 

Reaping the benefits. While everyone waits until the awards ceremony in October to learn the results, Wehmeyer can reflect on the benefits of being involved with the program.

The overall effort to beautify the community inspired individuals to want to enhance their own spaces. Wehmeyer believes this motivation could have led to a few new customers at Hillermann, or existing customers buying more materials than normal.

While the boost was welcomed, Wehmeyer points out that it wasn't why the company wanted to participate.

"For 60 years we've been in the community; we want to be a part of the community in every way we can," he said. "Anything we can do to promote landscaping and the joy of nature is what we want to be about."

For Wehmeyer, the most fulfilling part of participating in the program was the increased aesthetic awareness.

"People started noticing our multitude of parks, the downtown plantings and landscaping, and the landscaping around our public buildings," he said. "Not only did the people notice these things, but they wanted to help in making them more beautiful. AIB also taught us a lot about what we can improve upon in the years to come in order to create an even more beautiful city."

Wehmeyer recommends AIB to any landscape company that's looking for greater involvement in the community. The payoff comes in many forms in the community, from people discovering parks to a greater interest in maintaining what's in front of them.

"Any time you can draw awareness to landscapes and people take pride in their community, it's a win-win situation," he said. "People will buy more, but also they will see the improvement (in the community) and say 'that's great, I should do more in my yard.' It's a lot of fun, and it's neat to see everyone work together and have a common goal like that."

Sarah Martinez is managing editor of Garden Center Magazine; Heather Taylor is a freelance writer based in Lakewood, Ohio.