COLUMBIANA Worker keeps downtown in bloom for summer

Tending the flowers earns the maintenance worker public admiration.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
COLUMBIANA -- The rumbling under his feet caused Rodney Baker to look up from the bed of petunias he was weeding in the center of Columbiana's public circle.
"It was an earthquake kind of feeling," Baker said. He found the source of the tremors to be a box truck circling the intersection just a few yards away. The side of the truck was scraping along the steel and brick circular wall that encloses the flower bed.
"It was scary," Baker said. "The truck just kept on going. Either the driver didn't know what was happening or he was ignoring it."
As a city maintenance worker for 19 years, Baker doesn't mind getting his hands dirty. His main job is custodian at city hall, but in 2000, he took on the task of planting and maintaining the public circle flower bed, the flowers around city hall and the hanging baskets that adorn Main Street.
Baker's day starts at 3:30 a.m., when he goes up and down Main Street watering the flowers in the large hanging baskets. There's been a variety of flowers planted in the baskets in years past, but this year, they are all petunias.
"I like to go around early because there isn't much traffic," he said. "I haven't needed to do much watering this year, though."
Success
He said he doesn't mind starting his day several hours before the sun comes up. His work day ends at noon.
"It's early, but I'm used to it," he said.
Baker said he enjoys working for the city and takes pride in his work. He said city officials and passers-by have complimented him on how nice the flower beds and baskets look.
"I do enjoy working with the flowers," he said. "It's fun and gives me a break from some other work. It's nice to be appreciated."
Although he enjoys the floral duties, Baker admitted he didn't have much of a green thumb in the beginning.
"That first year, it was trial and error," he said. "It went pretty well though. This year has been the best ever."
Just before Memorial Day, he planted about 300 petunias and other plants in the flower bed at the center of town. He also keeps the shrubs trimmed neatly and removes any dead vegetation.
Until heavy rains knocked down many of the blooms, the circle was bursting with flowers. Baker was disappointed with the damage because he wanted the patch to look good for the street fair, which ended Saturday.
"I wanted it to be red, white and blue, but the blue petunias didn't grow as well as the rest," he said. "There's a lot of red and white, but for Columbiana, that's OK too."
Red and white are the Columbiana schools' team colors.