21 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Marketing group to help develop public-support program for Victoria hanging baskets

Since word spread that the annual budget for the program might be cut in half, people have been offering to contribute.

 

https://www.timescol...askets-11616822

The annual budget of $260,000 for the program, which sees 1,200 flower baskets hung around the city, was cut in half during budget discussions last month.

 

 

 

This is how simple-minded our politicians are.  40 City Hall staffers retire this year.  Simply find a way to not replace two or three of them and you have your $130,000.  Instead of starting an entire new program.

 

Same politicans that signed some type of deal that recognizes that the train won't go where it used to - but admit they have no idea where it might go.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 December 2025 - 03:24 AM.

[mbjj]

The city has put in so many random blobs of concrete out on the streets, I'm sure we could have done without those. There's one at Moss and Rockland that's just silly. 

[Victoria Watcher]

Now, the city and tourism group have launched a pilot fundraising program that lets residents and businesses keep more baskets hanging.

 

The fundraiser is hoping to raise $130,000 to restore the program to its previous scale.

 

Several groups have already made a dent into that total, with the Butchart Gardens contributing $25,000, the Downtown Victoria Business Association providing $10,000, and Destination Greater Victoria providing $10,000.

 

CHEK News is also contributing a total of $10,000 in financial and promotional contributions.

 

 

https://cheknews.ca/...umbers-1307857/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 25 February 2026 - 10:06 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

The CoV has at least three EDI (Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) employees.   Earning over $330,000 in 2024.

 

https://www.victoria...-informationpdf

 

Maybe kill that department for the savings.

 

Or a bunch of the "sustainability" jobs.  At least 4 of those, earning over $500,000 a year.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 26 February 2026 - 03:43 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

The baskets cost $215 apiece to make and are created by city staff.

https://www.timescol...askets-11926244




What kind of flowers are they using? And/or does it take a full day of labour for staff to make just one up?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 26 February 2026 - 06:06 AM.

[Mike K.]

The baskets are already made, or do they discard them every year?

They also grow their own flowers.

This used to be the link to making your own: https://www.victoria...gbskt_brchr.pdf

The city of Victoria BC offers a fantastic brochure on how to make your own hanging flower baskets, with how-to photos and the planting design they use for sunshine.

- https://northcoastga...flower-baskets/

[Victoria Watcher]

Also it’s a bit absurd that Tourism Victoria and DVBA are contributing.

[Victoria Watcher]

Cap Daily:

Victoria city council had to make some budget cuts last year to reduce property taxes, and one of the places it hit hard was its hanging basket program.

The cut means the city could only budget for 600 hanging baskets this year, half as many as last year.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 26 February 2026 - 06:29 AM.

[Mike P.]

Chek news said yesterday the cost of basket includes the growing, making, tending and watering costs. Maybe install irrigation in the poles to save money instead of manually watering them daily?

[Mike P.]

On another hand, it's so asinine the city can't spare $1.30 per inhabitant to pay for the flower baskets. Meanwhile, they have no problem pushing for a CRD $2,500,000 arts program or nearly $1,000,000 annually for free bus passes. And forget charging for bike valet that no one uses, god forbid, or a pointless $10,000,000 crime reduction pdf document.

 

Time to oust them out and cancel the pay increase they voted themselves in comes next election.

Edited by Mike P., 26 February 2026 - 05:10 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

It takes a five-person crew about three weeks to put together the 1,200 hanging flower baskets that adorn the streets of downtown Victoria each summer.

 

They work in an assembly line to assemble both “sun baskets” and “shade baskets,” with plants selected based on how much sunlight they will get.

 

“There are variations in those, but typically they’re pretty consistent in terms of the types of plants that we have in them,” said Mike Creighton, the City of Victoria’s supervisor of park operations.

 

The sun baskets this year include two types of geraniums and lobelias, three types of petunias, African marigolds, osteospermum and dichondra. In the shade baskets, there will be three begonia varieties — dragon wing red, dragon wing white and megawatt.

 

Creighton said trials with new plants are done every year at specific sites around the city to see how they will fare. Staff also look at where the baskets are hung every year, taking into consideration the development of any taller buildings that will cast additional shadows.

 

Creighton said he’s grateful for the recent launch of a public fundraising campaign to retain the same number of hanging baskets this year, after the hanging-basket program’s $260,000 budget was cut in half in November in a cost-saving move by city council. “We’re happy to see the support and just the joy the baskets bring.”

 

Creighton said flower baskets were first hung in Victoria in 1937 to mark the 75th anniversary of the incorporation of the city, and have appeared every year since.

 

A total of about 33,000 plants go into the baskets, all grown by city staff in a series of greenhouses on the Cook Street side of Beacon Hill Park. The cost per basket is about $215, including components and labour.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...am-job-11939045

[lanforod]

I used to work in a greenhouse where a crew of 4 or 5 would put together that many in a day. They oughta be able to get them done faster, or just straight up buy them from a local greenhouse for $100/pop.

Edited by lanforod, 04 March 2026 - 02:42 PM.

[Mike K.]

It takes a five-person crew about three weeks to put together the 1,200 hanging flower baskets that adorn the streets of downtown Victoria each summer.

16 per person per day, or 2 per hour.

[Matt R.]

One every 30 minutes.  What's the hourly wage?

[Victoria Watcher]

What's the hourly wage?

 

$33 to $36 maybe.

 

https://cupelocal50....-2023-04-17.pdf

[max.bravo]

I have never given the hanging baskets more than a momentary thought; and have never missed them in any other municipality.
Scrap it. Hanging flower baskets can’t make up for the stench of human waste and the sight of open air drug use and bicycle chop shops.

[Mike K.]

It’s good to have uniqueness in a city. It makes our downtown different than everywhere else, and is among the last vestibules of our garden city past.

[Daveyboy]

It's not like the city hires a special crew to put these together.  They are regular employees who are being paid regardless so I would agree with Mike about the beauty the baskets provide.

[Mike P.]

Could the city sell them at the end of the season instead of simply disposing of them?

[max.bravo]

Nobody wants to buy dead annuals.