Flowering Annuals Available for Community Groups

Each year the Des Moines Park and Recreation Department’s greenhouse grows over 250,000 flowering annuals to distribute to community groups to beautify public spaces such as right aways, medians, street corners, parkways, and land owned by non-profits including schools within the city limits of Des Moines. Plants ordered by October 19 will be scheduled for pick-up Friday, May 17 and Saturday, May 18 from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the City’s greenhouses located at 2501 Maury Street.

Individuals or groups interested in beautifying public spaces should contact their neighborhood association to place an order. To find out what neighborhood association a resident belongs to, use our online tool "Show Me My House", enter your address and select from the list of valid addresses. Look in the Neighborhood section to see if a neighborhood is listed for your area.  To find out more about your neighborhood visit the ”Des Moines Neighborhoods" page and select your named neighborhood.  If your neighborhood association doesn't participate in this program, please contact Park staff. 

 
For more information E-mail Us or call (515) 248-6384.
 

Flower Beds on City Property

All new and existing flower beds on city property such as medians, parkland,  vacant lots and street corners must be approved by the Park Department manager for that area of town.   Our Parks staff is there to assist you in designing your garden beds and may be able to assist with bed preparation for larger plots.  Any flower bed planted on land not owned or maintained by the City of Des Moines such as schools or community centers need not contact park staff.

Annual Spring Perennial Divide

Renew your garden and beautify Des Moines public land by donating perennial plant material. Residents who are donating plant material are asked to label their plants and identify its sun requirements, height, and color of flower. No donation is too small. We welcome plants of all kinds including perennials, bulbs, groundcovers, herbs, vegetables, annual seedlings, ornamental grasses, shrubs, seeds and house plants. Donations will be accepted at the City greenhouse starting Friday, May 17th and ending at noon Saturday the 18th. Non profit groups that have been confirmed to receive donations can pick up plants from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. 

The general public is asked to bring plant donations to:

Chesterfield Community Center - 2501 Maury

Friday, May 17th        8:00 a.m. – 2:30p.m. 

Saturday, May 18th  8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Don't Let Them Mark Your Turf

The City of Des Moines operates a graffiti removal program to “erase” graffiti that appears in our neighborhoods, on public property and in commercial areas. Graffiti includes undesirable messages, scribbles, and symbols that are usually spray- or hand- painted on fences, buildings, bridges, and other structures, as well as on objects such as trees, trash dumpsters and street signs.  The ugly results can require much work and expense to remove.   The number of incidences of graffiti continues to increase in our city each year; over 90% of them are the result of gangs marking or “tagging” their respective areas of turf and sending messages to rival gangs. 
 

The city’s graffiti program is administered by the Park and Recreation Department, which handles removal, and the Police Department’s Gang Unit, which tracks the locations and messages to monitor for possible gang activity and to create various types of reports.   Parks’ goal is to have HATE graffiti removed within 24 hours or less of its reporting, and GANG graffiti eliminated within three working days.  Although police patrols of the City’s Neighborhood Based Service Delivery (NBSD) Program are constantly on the lookout for and reporting graffiti sightings, the Parks and Police Departments rely on the eyes of the public to help them eliminate graffiti.

How to Report Graffiti

Anyone, anywhere, anytime can report the location and nature of a graffiti sighting to the Park and Recreation Department via email  or phone (515) 248-6350 or the Police Graffiti Hot Line: (515) 237-1808.   
 

Facts About Grafitti in Des Moines

Following are the number of reported graffiti incidences in the past three years:

2007 – 1121
2008 – 1277
2009  - 1392

Over 90% of these graffiti cases are  gang-related. 50% of them occur on private property and the other 50% are on public property. Private property includes places of business, houses, garages, fences and other buildings. Public property includes bridges, over- and under-passes, freeway walls on the non-DOT side, utility boxes and poles, trees, sidewalks, park property, etc.  Schools and the DOT take care of their own incidences of graffiti so the numbers cited do not include graffiti on those properties. Also not included are incidences taken care of by private property owners without being reported to police.

The City contracts graffiti removal through a bid process; the current contract is for $43.50/hour plus the cost of paint supplies, which is generally around $5,000 annually. White paint is used on the majority of surfaces; when paint is not the solution, a product called Elephant Snot is used for removal on fences, metal buildings, etc.