Back on April’s Earth Day, Mayor John Hickenlooper introduced the “Denver Daisy” — the city’s new official flower — and promised that the distribution of 300,000 seed packets would leave the city “awash in color” for the Democratic National Convention.
Well, the convention plans are blooming. The daisies are not. A combination of possibly confusing planting instructions and a need for the kind of watering Denver just doesn’t get naturally have sprouted little more than frustrated gardeners.
City officials, including the mayor, planned for the daisy to serve a major role in Denver’s 150th-anniversary celebrations.
“We’re having a 150th birthday here, and it’s like a birthday cake without the candles,” said Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown, who led a spirited discussion on the foibles of the flower during a council committee meeting Wednesday.
“This is an embarrassment,” Brown said. “I bet you two-thirds of those seeds did not come up.”
He said he has been gardening for 40 years and couldn’t get his Denver Daisy seeds to sprout.
“Rarely a seed I plant does not come up, because I use tender loving care,” Brown said. “And I watered these seeds and they did not come up.”
Where Brown expected to see golden petals brushed with strokes of rustic red, there’s nothing but a patch of bare brown dirt.
Council member Peggy Lehmann also couldn’t get her Denver Daisy seeds to sprout. And Debra Bartelson, a legislative analyst for the City Council, planted seeds to no avail. Even the city camera operator filming Wednesday’s meeting said he had no luck with his seed packet.
Steve Sander, the director of marketing for the city, said that after he received about 15 complaints, he decided to check in with the person who coordinated the distribution of the seeds, Al Gerace, of Welby Gardening.
“I don’t know that the directions were comprehensive enough to make people understand that if the ground dried up, the seeds would not come up,” Sander said.
The directions on the back of the seed packet says to “cover seeds with 1/4 inch below soil line in well-drained soil. Water lightly. Keep soil moist until seedlings appear but don’t overwater.”
Sander said that although some people may have trouble getting the seeds to grow, many have had success.
“Once they pop through the ground, there hasn’t been as much a problem, but to keep them from dying, the soil had to be kept moist, and that may not have been as clear as it should have been,” Sander said.
“Maybe it’s a question of inexperience,” said Gerace, who arranged for a German firm to import the seeds to Denver. “We’ve germinated tens of thousands of the seeds and donated a lot around the city.
“Maybe they don’t understand what thoroughly moist means. If they dry out at all during germination, it will kill germination. We keep the seeds in intensive care for 10 days. Somewhere along the line, the consumer isn’t making that happen.”
Key Bank donated about $25,000 to pay for the distribution of the seeds, which were inserted in copies of 5280 Magazine. Welby Gardening also put up about $16,000. No city funds were used.
“I believe the seed is viable; it’s just difficult,” Gerace said.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
