Downtown”s Cherry Blossoms

Never mind the newly painted fire hydrants and swept streets. Wander downtown L.A., look 6 to 10 feet up the lampposts and traffic lights and you’ll find an unlikely splash of color against the backdrop of sleek gray structures and choking exhaust: flowers.

With assistance from local gardening enthusiast Tania Norris (“look at my fingernails!”), 14 maintenance workers with the Downtown Center Business Improvement District began planting the red, white and blue annuals this June. Now nearly 4,000 petunia, salvia, alyssum and lobelia plants hang from soil-filled coconut fiber liners in wrought-iron baskets clamped to 40 downtown posts--along sections of 6th Street, Hill Street and Broadway.

The flowers are sprinkled several times a week by a specially rigged truck hauling a 100-gallon water tank. As they grow, they’ll fill out and climb over their fiber “pots,” creating a lush effect. But don’t expect the patriotic color theme year-round. Come fall and winter, they’ll try out new plant-color combinations. And, says Norris, “maybe we can get a downtown gardening program going,” in which property owners help in the planting.

Which begs the question: How long until power mowers outnumber power lunches and stake ties replace neckties?