It’s a sure sign of spring once the flower baskets are up along Steinbach's Main Street and Brandt Street boulevards. Russ Dyck, head of Steinbach Parks and Rec Department says this will begin happening Thursday night and continue for a few days. Once the baskets are up, Dyck says, their staff are expected to start on some of the ground planting, which will continue for a few weeks.

Joyce Purchase, the city’s landscape technician will once again be taking the lead on directing staff in the planting process. Purchase has been with the city for many years now and plans to retire after this year.

When it comes to making sure their staff stays safe as they beautify our city, Dyck asks that motorists give them space. There will be beacons and staff will be wearing vests, but there will be a number of people on boulevards, so you are asked to slow down and give them room to work.

have to deal with from year to year. Dyck also notes the weather to be an issue.

“We have a number of rain days every spring and it's most often too windy to spray, so it's definitely a challenge when we can't use chemicals that are effective.”

And whether you are of the mindset to leave the dandelions to grow, to feed the spring pollinators or cut them down for a pristine lawn, Dyck says, the reality is over the last couple of years, dandelions have just taken over a lot of lawns and green spaces within the city and it's become a real challenge controlling their growth.

The head of Parks and Rec says with an eight-day turnaround to getting to all the green spaces in Steinbach, their staff are doing a good job trying to keep up with the growth every spring.