Spring is just around the corner. Although weather forecasters are avoiding long-term forecasts, promising only a slight increase in temperature for the next days, there is no escaping spring. What will it be like in our capital? Landscape developers know the answer to this question.
“I can assure you that spring will be wonderful as always,” The Day heard from Valentyna Kyiashko, deputy chief of the landscaping department at Kyiv’s municipal enterprise Kyivzelenbud. Contrary to what you might expect, February is not the low season for landscape designers but a very hectic period. Before spring they have to plan all the details of the coming flower season. Landscape developers get busy as the temperature rises in the city: they have to clean up the flower beds and get the plants back into shape after their winter sleep. Some plants never wake after the winter because of the large amount of sand mixed with salt on the roads. Salt leeches from sidewalks onto flower beds, killing dormant flowers. Salt also kills linden and chestnut trees. Although Kyivans love the fact that the chestnuts in their city bloom more than once a year, that is actually a sign that these trees are in bad shape. Every year Kyivzelenbud has to plant countless new trees to preserve Kyiv’s status as a “green capital.”
Tulips will be the first to appear in Kyiv’s flower beds. Kyiashko says that every year her department plants at least 100,000 tulips. Often they have to plant additional flowers, as the city residents and guests of the city are not above stealing a few flowers or entire flower beds. They not only cut the flowers, but dig out the bulbs. “It’s horrible. When the country was better off economically, nobody would steal flowers. We used to plant roses, and they would still be there the next day. Now they steal no matter what you plant, even the most inconspicuous flowers. Let’s hope that someday we will have economic prosperity, and people will stop stealing,” says Kyiashko. This is quite an indicator of well-being.
On the other hand, the residents of Kyiv are eager to lend a hand in cleaning up and planting flowers on lawns adjacent to their apartment buildings. Spring is a season of community drives, including Environment Day, Earth Day, and the “Sapling of the Future” holiday, which was introduced by presidential order. “This is a time of joint community efforts. People take to the streets en masse to clean up,” says Kyiashko.
But let us return to flowers. Hyacinths and crocuses appear at the same time as tulips. Kyivans will also have an opportunity to enjoy traditional springtime flower exhibits in parks and gardens. The themes and sketches for these exhibits are already in the works. “Unfortunately, Kyiv has no chief landscape architect, who could develop a general concept for the city’s appearance,” says Oksana Dzhun, a famous Kyiv landscape architect and the organizer of exhibits held on the hills overlooking the Dnipro. “Still, Kyiv is upholding its fine old traditions, such as patterned flower beds, which are maintained the same way for years. It is much more difficult to create a regular flower bed than one intended for an exhibition. My dream is to decorate Independence Square with flower beds based on well thought-out plans.”
Incidentally, the famous slogan “Kyiv is the city of tulips” is not entirely accurate. “We are not a city of tulips! Kyiv is a city of annuals and perennials,” Kyiashko insists. Kyiv is also a city of begonias, ageratums, and especially marigolds. Only the most absent-minded resident of Kyiv has not noticed that marigolds are Kyiv’s main flower, which is Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko’s favorite. They bloom in any weather and are resistant to rain and cold. Marigolds appear in Kyiv’s flower beds only in the summertime, so in springtime Kyiv is truly a city of tulips.
