Hand-Made Flower Baskets Bring Color To Broken Arrow's Rose District

Spring is in full bloom in Downtown Broken Arrow.

The city's horticulture team has hung 144 flower baskets from light poles lining the Rose District. 

Horticulturalist Chris Ohler said the baskets are hand-made from sphagnum moss to help hold in moisture during Oklahoma's hot summers. Each one contains about six, four-inch pots of Supertunias, a variety of the popular petunia flower.

The flower baskets have been around since the Rose District was established a decade ago. An irrigation system was built into the light poles to water the flowers, something Ohler said keeps them blooming all season long.

"We have micro-tubing running up from a valve that is in the concrete as you walk down the sidewalk and those irrigate each one of these baskets," he continued saying, "So, each basket has like four little emitters in there that will drip water in."

Ohler said it takes about two to three weeks to put together and install all 144 baskets, but it is well worth his time.

"I just take a lot of pride in what we do," he added. "The citizens of Broken Arrow have a beautiful Rose District and my job just kind of compliments that. You get to go out and you get to see something you plant early in the year, and it just beautifies the area and as the summer goes on it just gets better."