When a tornado touches down it impacts families, communities and, sometimes, it affects those far removed from the devastation. In eastern Iowa, at North Linn High School, instructor Tom Murray and students in his Horticulture class have become storm chasers of sorts. The class makes a point of delivering perennials to communities like Lake City which sustained tornado damage this past May. Murray says the class’s annual spring plant sale and the 2008 Parkersburg tornado together inspired the “Perennials for People” program.
Sometimes part of the recovery effort, he says, is just about working to beatify the affected landscape. Murray, along with about fifteen of his students and around 500 plants, will be making a trip to Lake City this Sunday. They’ll distribute perennial flowers for free to community residents who were affect by the storm.
Students grow the perennials as part of their class; learning about propagation, identification, and each species’ traits. His students will be able to tell residents how to best care for the plants which were started from seed and are now in 4” pots. Murray says there’s quite a variety for people to choose from.
The class has made similar deliveries to residents in Mapleton, Creston, Clarksville, Muscatine, and twice to Parkersburg. Murray says through the deliveries they’re just trying to help out the communities as best as they can, and he hopes to see a lot of people come to the town square to pick out some plants.
Murray and his students will be located on the north side of Lake City’s town square distributing perennials from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm on Sunday, September 27. The perennial plant donation is valued at approximately $4,000.
