New stuff on the website!

I'd like to point out a few small changes to this website, like some of the new links on the right hand side.  Now you can make a direct donation to Tulips on Troost via Paypal by clicking the link in the right hand column. You can sign up for our e-newsletter, join our Facebook group, or check out some Tulips photos on our new Flickr site!  And as always, stay up to date with our events and activities through our calendar updates.

There is also a new feature at the very bottom of the page that you might not notice, but it might clear up some questions you have about the project!  There is now a brief "Frequently Asked Questions" summary with some of the basics of Tulips on Troost that perhaps aren't well known among our community.  Check them out, and if you have other questions you'd like to have answered, leave a comment and we'll get the answers up!

Thanks for visiting www.troostavenue.com. As always, see you on Troost!

Didn't get your bulbs planted? Here's what to do:

If you're like me, you didn't get your tulip bulbs that you bought from our fundraiser in the ground before winter arrived.  In that case, here are some instructions for what to do with them.  You can either pot them inside and enjoy them through the spring, or get them started in pots and then transplant them to the ground later and still have tulips in your yard. Either way, here goes...let me know if you have any questions.

You can either grow your tulips completely in pots inside.  Then, it is likely they will only last for this year.  Or, as soon as the ground is unfrozen, you transplant the partially grown bulbs to the ground and then hopefully they'll get enough roots to come back again in the upcoming years.  In that case, you still need to start this process right away, then just transplant them to the ground sometime before they start to bloom.

Container planting

• Open the packaging to permit air circulation and place the bulbs out of direct sunlight in a cool (34-60°F) place. We recommend the fridge in warm climates. Store the bulbs cold till you plant them.

Find a container or pot

• Use clean pots with drainage holes and/or add some little rocks or gravel on the bottom to ensure good drainage.

Plant the tulips

• Add a few inches of potting soil in the container, plant the bulbs point up. You can plant 8 bulbs in a 6” pot and 5 bulbs in a 4” pot. When you plant press the bulb with the flat side in the potting soil. Add an other layer of 2 inch potting soil and water the pot. Don’t add any fertilizer

Cold Period and rooting

• After planting, the pot needs to be stored cold at least 6 weeks to grow healthy roots. Place the container in a cold area where it is between 32 and 50 degrees (the fridge works if you don't have a basement or garage that stays in this temperature range).
  
  

Grow your flowers!

• After 6 weeks, move your tulips to a warmer spot (room temp.) with enough light.  The tulips will flower in 2-4 weeks depending on the temperature.

Greenhouse Initiative Benefit a Success!

Many thanks to all who came to our Greenhouse Initiative Benefit Event last week.  We are extremely grateful for your donations and support.  Special thanks goes out to Taliaferro & Browne (including Leonard Graham, Hagos Andebrhan, Greg Lever, Jeff Bowers, Meg Babani, and Melissa Langley), Jolie Justus, Scott Burnett, Mike Talboy, BNIM, and Center High School Poetry Club.

Taliaferro & Browne President Leonard Graham & CEO Hagos Andebrhan welcome Tulips on Troost supporters to the Greenhouse Initiative Benefit Event that they graciously hosted at their offices. Taliaferro &  Browne is the leading design team for the new Troost MAX bus rapid transit line.

Senator Jolie Justus and Jackson County Legislator Scott Burnett, host and hostess of the event, shared about what Tulips on Troost means to them and the impact they believe it will have on Kansas City neighborhoods.

Tulips on Troost Founder Durwin Rice shares about Tulips on Troost's mission, emphasizing that it is about unification, history, and economic growth just as much as it is about tulips.

TOT supporters watch and listen to the brief presentations at the Greenhouse Initiative Benefit Event.

Three students from Center High School Poetry Club, which kicked off the Greenhouse Initiative in 2009 and will do so again this year, shared a few songs and poems with the crowd. Left to right: Montrez Jones, Devin Ersery, Diamel Kerr.

Anna Heffernan, a faculty member at Center High School and supervisor of the greenhouse project, watches on proudly as her students perform.

MLK

Martin Luther King's dream for the country is the same dream that we hold for Kansas City--that we could be unified and work together for a better city, and ultimately a better nation.  Troost Avenue is a huge part of this because of its infamous history as the racial dividing line of the city.  So, this Martin Luther King day, consider what you can do to increase reconciliation and unification in the heart of our city.  Here are a few opportunities coming up during the week of MLK Day (click on links for further details):

Monday, January 18, 9:15am: Day of Service at Metro Lutheran Ministries. The day will include stocking the food pantry, writing letters to homebound seniors, joining with KCAI for the MLK Day Celebration (see below), and volunteering at Blessings Abound Thrift Store.  Lunch provided. Meet at MLM (3031 Holmes, KCMO 64109.)  Ring the doorbell as the front door must remain locked.  Gather in second floor meeting room.  Feel free to bring a can(s) of nonperishable food and/or item(s) of gently used clothing.

Monday, January 18, 11am-1:30pm: KCAI Celebrates MLK Day.  The celebration commences with a short documentary about the civil rights movement, after which guest speaker Charles Coulter, a former op-ed editor at The Kansas City Star and instructor of African-American history at the Art Institute and the University of Missouri-Kansas City, will deliver one of King's speeches.


Friday, January 22, 6:00pm: Martin Luther King Keynote Address, UMKC.  Keynote speaker: Angela Davis.

More events will be posted on the web as the day draws near, but for now mark your calendars to find a way to serve our city or learn more about Dr. King's impact on our nation on your day off!

TOT Benefit Event | January 14

KC Star Article on New Year's Day Tulip Planting

Hardy Gardeners turn out for tulip planting
By Mara Rose Williams
Photo by Keith Myers
The Kansas City Star


Planting tulips on Jan. 1 is no breeze, especially when it’s 14 degrees — and feels like 2 — and it takes a pickax to chop through frozen earth.

But that’s exactly what about two dozen volunteers from Kansas City Area Transportation Authority and the Southtown Council did Friday morning on the northeast corner of 18th Street and Troost Avenue.

The annual gardening project is part of the Tulips on Troost program, which began four years ago as a way to unify communities and beautify the corridor that for years was labeled the dividing line between black and white Kansas City.

The planting occurred on property owned by the ATA, which later this year will launch its Troost Max bus line past the area being beautified. Called the green line, it will feature hybrid electric buses and stations with solar-powered lighting and rain gardens, said Cindy Baker, ATA spokeswoman.

Volunteers bundled in puffy parkas, wool caps, gloves and scarves jabbed shovels into the ground Friday to chip away chunks of frozen earth.

“It’s freezing out here, but I think we are doing just great as long as we keep this to 15 minutes or less,” said Jackson County Legislator Scott Burnett, one of the first to start.

Actually, it took an hour to bury all 4,000 bulbs. And 5-year-old Phoenix Thomas, who wrapped her gloved hands around a cup of hot chocolate, lasted only 20 minutes before begging her mother, Deana Thomas of Independence, to take her back to their car.

Even though transportation authority workers dug trenches before the snow fell Christmas Eve, the ground by Friday was “frozen solid, as hard as rock,” said Andrea Berkley, an ATA worker who volunteered.

Master gardeners say Jan. 1 is the last safe day to plant tulip bulbs and recommend packing a layer of mulch between the bulb and the cold soil. Friday’s planters took heed.

The goal is to eventually plant a million tulips on Troost. So far over the years, about a quarter of that number have been planted.

Berkley and her husband, Dean, a transportation authority driver, said they didn’t really mind Friday’s cold because, “anything you do with nature is worth it,” she said. “Besides, this is going to be beautiful, and come spring when we drive by here and see the beautiful tulips we’ll say, ‘Wow, we helped to do that.’ ”

To contact Mará Rose Williams, call 816-234-4419 or send e-mail to mdwilliams@kcstar.com

Annual New Year's Day Tulip Planting: Snow or Shine!

Our Annual New Year's Day Tulip Planting is on despite the cold temperatures! We will be kicking off our partnership with the KCATA by joining with their staff (and all other volunteers are welcome!) to plant tulips at 18th & Troost, near their headquarters.  Planting begins at 11am and will be followed by a hot beverage celebration at the nearby Pi Gallery.  See you then!

United4Iran plants a tulip garden on Troost

On Saturday, a handful of volunteers from a group called Promiseland and peace advocates from United4Iran came out to the 54th Street Community Garden to plant tulips for a cause!

More photos are forthcoming.

Special thanks to Steve Jenks and UMKC, Amtis Amani, Eric Kral, Scott Burnett and Beth Brubaker.