With the heat of summer on us, it makes me wonder how our 31’ers managed with the high temps and next to no amenities. Looking around town, we have generations of garden stories that reflect the ingenuity of our first families and gardeners.

Grandma Pickett is a familiar name to most, as the kindly little lady from Arkansas that brought Hollyhock seeds to Boulder City. She shared her love of the flower with the local kids by teaching them how to harvest and plant the seeds for the future. She also grew several vines that are still here, two of those being Morning Glory and Virginia Creeper.

Home vegetable gardens have been around since our early days when families relied on produce they could grow for themselves. Some of these gardeners would share their crops with neighbors and friends, starting traditions we still see today. During World War II, Victory Gardens supplied necessary staples while showing patriotism here.

Boulder City is lush with parks and landscape, countless time was invested in the planning and planting of our town’s greenery. Wilbur Weed, our original landscape architect, came from Oregon. You couldn’t find a bigger difference in environments, yet he made it work. Through a thorough study of plants grown throughout the Mojave, he came up with a great palette of trees, shrubs, and flowers. We follow his example today through garden education

provided by garden clubs, nursery centers, and community education programs (Cooperative Extension/Master Gardeners). We are very fortunate to live where gardening and history coexist so wonderfully! We can envision our town as a living museum, where every landscape has a story to tell: Wilbur Square, Hollyhocks, rolling green of parks, historic neighborhoods.

On your next stroll through town, I hope you see through the eyes of our 31’ers, the vision of our Clean Green Boulder City, our pretty little town that grew up out of the Mojave Desert.

Happy Gardening!