A new project to plant annuals is ‘like adding jewels to the necklace,’ an advocate says.

By Waveney Ann Moore  |  Published Oct. 1, 2013  |  Tampa Bay Times

ST. PETERSBURG — Almost two years ago, the man who designed a landscape to complement the Dalí Museum’s uncommon architecture sought the blessing of a City Council committee to bring dazzle to downtown waterfront parks.

What Phil Graham Jr. proposed was a foundation whose funds would augment a dwindling parks budget that could no longer can afford such luxuries as frequent planting of showy annuals.

Money from the recently formed Downtown Waterfront Parks Foundation — already in receipt of inaugural donations — will benefit much of the parkland stretching from Flora Wylie Park at North Shore Drive at 13th Avenue NE to Poynter Park at 1000 Third St. S.