Petunias pop up in Dixon with annual baskets, park plantings

DIXON – A fleet of 286 baskets filled with the city’s signature pink and white petunias are in bloom.

A core group of about a dozen volunteers with Dixon in Bloom and the Rock River Garden Club planted the flowers in April at Nichol’s Greenhouses and attended to the pruning and pinching until they were ready to be moved in their baskets throughout downtown and the riverfront last week.

It’s a labor of love on our part.”

—  Robin Canode, Dixon in Bloom

They also plant petunias and maintain the civic gardens at Peace Park, the Dixon Veterans Memorial Park and Presidents Park as well as in front of City Hall and the Dixon Chamber of Commerce and Main Street.

The thousands of flowers are situated in their decorative placings for the summer, but the work to keep them presentable doesn’t stop.

“It’s a labor of love on our part,” said Robin Canode, a longtime member of Dixon in Bloom. “We look for iron and magnesium deficiency as well as insects. It doesn’t end once they’re out hanging.”

[ Dixon pride in full bloom ]

The petunias are paid for by donations, and the city covers the cost of water. There are drought concerns across the state, but the petunias are watered six days a week, sometimes more, and shouldn’t be affected, Canode said.

The garden club’s annual fundraiser Bloomin’ on the Rock will take place at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets are $65 and can be purchased at the Dixon Chamber of Commerce and Main Street or from a garden club member. There will be food, cocktails, music and an auction for specially planted containers.

[ Lack of storms in recent weeks produced drought, fourth-driest May on record ]

Donations also can be made to Dixon in Bloom, P.O. Box 127, Dixon, Illinois.