Best Petal Pusher

Flower-power is key in the makeover of a neglected Kansas City street.

• Great Ideas
• Gardening

When decoupage artist Durwin Rice moved back home to Kansas City, Missouri, six years ago, he discovered that Troost Avenue -- famous as the place where Walt Disney launched his career -- had grown dingy after years of neglect. Rice's brainstorm: Plant thousands of tulips in honor of the street's namesake, Benoist Troost, a 19th-century Dutch immigrant and physician, entrepreneur, and city councilman.

With private donations and local business support, Rice and hundreds of volunteers rolled up their sleeves and started planting. Today the tulip trail on Troost boasts over 150,000 flowers of 80 varieties -- with many more to come. "By 2010 we want to have planted a million tulips," says Rice. "We're sort of rebranding the street. Who can't love tulips?"

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From Reader's Digest - May 2008

 

• Healthy Snacks
• Nutrition
• Going Green
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