Ferndale has spectacular petunia baskets hanging from practically every lamp post on Main Street, blooming since I moved here in May. Some of them are at least four feet across, big enough to obscure crosswalk signals - not that I'm complaining, but they could be trimmed back a bit. A couple of mornings a week, an elderly man drives on the sidewalk in a miniature John Deere truck with a water tank and a hose with a long wand attachment, so he can reach up from the driver's seat to water them.
A transportation-planner I know once noted that studies have shown that planting trees along a street causes car traffic to slow by ten miles an hour, and I recall reading that flower baskets have a similar psychological effect. During a low point of one of the Puget Sound region's regular Boeing-boom-and-bust cycles, when local governments were looking for ways to revitalize small towns and neighborhoods, it was suggested that planting flowers helps promote optimism and encourage redevelopment. Bright, colorful planter boxes, baskets or flower borders cause people to take a second look at a street and think, "Hey, it's not so bad here. This could be a real nice place." So they went ahead and planted flowers, even though there wasn't much budget money, without any real business prospects, or plans for investment or development.
Sometimes I entertain myself with making up a sci-fi ecological disaster story, imagining mutant petunias that run wild and smother a small town. But then I had another whimsical thought that's starting to seem like a good idea. A counter to the Tea Party movement: the Petunia Revolution. Just start by remembering the people who put tax cuts before all, ahead of developing ideas to provide services, stimulate business and create jobs.
Remember when re-election time comes around.
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