If you ask Tim Forster, the head of the city greenhouse, how his garden grows, he might just say, "Which garden?"

Do you mean the formal gardens at Sioux Park, the sunken gardens at Sioux Park, the flower beds at Halley Park, the gardens at Omaha and West Boulevard, the flower beds at Wilson Park, the plantings at Omaha and East Boulevard, Mountain View Cemetery, the areas around City Hall, the Minnilusa Senior Center, the Parkview Pool, Fitzgerald Field, the island in front of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, the tree wells in the parking lot southeast of the Alex Johnson Hotel or the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center?

Those areas are made beautiful each year by the more than 50,000 annuals plus 2,000 geraniums grown from seed in the city greenhouse at the Rapid City Parks office just off Canyon Lake Drive.

"We begin seeding the lisianthus, begonias and geraniums in early January. begonias and geraniums in early January. When we are in full production we will be maintaining about 1,000 flats of annuals," Forster said.

In the early spring, the loving and gentle hands of two full time transplanters, Nancy Wold and Cindy Horning, process each tiny plant individually from the sprouting trays into plant cells (small pots) to continue to develop until they are ready to plant out.

When it comes time - and that will be soon - to set the plants out, few of the plants will be in flower.

"We do that on purpose to keep the plants pinched back to really put the plants' energy into strong root systems. Once they are past transplanting shock, they really take off and stay strong," he said.

Forster continued, "I sometimes think the plants have less transplanting shock than those of us who do the planting. It takes 10 to 12 persons 10 to 12 full days to plant all the gardens."

Forster paused. "I'd call it organized chaos."

Chaos, even enjoyable chaos, is fleeting. Is there long-term pleasure in the gardens for the staff?

"The response we receive from the public is almost uniformly good - actually just wonderful. Visitors are caring of the gardens. We are seeing an increasing number of senior and wedding pictures taken in the gardens. And amateur and professional photographers use them a lot."

Forster has a personal investment in the gardens as well.

"I really enjoy making the designs. I like to try something different. For example, the center of the formal garden is a challenge. We have some foxglove there now and we will see how it wintered. We have had lilies for over five years. The Asiatic, Martagon and Orienpet lilies seem to have done well for us. People enjoy seeing them and we get a lot of questions about the lilies."

As with all gardens, the city gardens are ever-changing, a work in progress. This year the gardens at Main Street and East Boulevard including the Pressler Junction area received a new irrigation system, had some shrubbery removed and had a garden bed reconfigured. Additionally the beds of annuals are changed each year for the health of the plants and to keep the interest of the public.

"I know these gardens really belong to the community because some of our favorite plants were suggested to us by community gardeners," he said.

These include the Madame Butterfly tall, fragrant snapdragons (seed from a wholesale source), the Benary Giant dahlia (from Park Seed) and the giant zinnia (cactus-type) from Burpee, which is a standout plant even in the back row in the garden at West Boulevard and Omaha.

Throughout the year, numerous social groups enjoy tours of the greenhouse and Forster gives educational programs for organizations. The city greenhouse is an operation of many purposes: educating and informing interested groups throughout the year; demonstrating the beautiful effect of skilled garden design; and providing numerous sites throughout the city with the beauty of gardens that lower the blood pressure, evoke sighs of pleasure and place smiles on the faces of all of us who love and appreciate the parks.

Cathie Draine is a member of the South Dakota State University Co-operative Extension Master Gardeners and the Garden Writers' Association. She lives and gardens in Black Hawk. She may be contacted at cathiedraine@rap.midco.net.