Shoreline's North City Flower Baskets are a Welcome Community Tradition

Have you ever wondered about those beautiful hanging flower baskets that adorn Shoreline’s North City?

The baskets are hung and maintained by the Shoreline Parks Department each year, but originally, they were the brainchild of Charlotte Haines, a 50-year Shoreline resident who watered the baskets every day for years using a variety of contraptions—including for a while a two-gallon water pack attached to a long PVC pipe to reach the lofty baskets, which were originally suspended on hooks 16 feet above the ground. Along the way, a number of community organizations and businesses participated, Haines says.

“One year the fire district hung them, another year the cable company did it,” Haines says, and her 5:30 a.m. watering runs became synonymous with the revamped image of North City after Shoreline incorporated in 1995.

Now, after having done a streetscaping project there, the parks department hangs and maintains several dozen baskets that hang along 15th Avenue between 175th and 180th streets between May and October (they come down a bit earlier if the weather changes sooner) every year, says Tony Colinas, a senior parks maintenance worker in Shoreline. The baskets are watered nearly every day, primarily by seasonal parks employees, he says.

Colinas says the city buys 34 baskets a year from Snohomish Garden Center for $50 apiece—two each for 16 standards that hold two baskets each, plus two replacement baskets in case of vandalism or theft. Colinas says the nursery was chosen after talking with other nearby cities that recommended it.

Shoreline Parks Department Director Dick Deal says the flower standards were requested by citizens when the city was designing the 15th Street improvement project, and says they help make that area a bright spot for community festivals, such as the recent Jazz Walk. Even now, though, after the city has been maintaining the baskets for several years, Deal says Haines deserves a lot of credit for creating the colorful tradition.

“It might have been her baby for some years,” he says. Haines says she helped with the watering at first even after the city put in the new standards, joking that they have a much easier watering system to use now.

In all seriousness, however, Haines adds that she’s happy the city has committed to the continued beautification provided by hanging and maintaining the seasonal baskets.

“I’m so thrilled that the city has chosen to continue with the baskets,” despite tight budgets, Haines says. “People maybe aren’t writing fan mail, but they certainly are appreciative, she says.”