Yard of the Week Award Comes Full Circle in Payson

Pictured: Steve and Shirley Park's place has been a beauty for decades.  It was awarded Payson's very first Green Thumb award in 1994.  Twenty years later, the Parks have been honored again.  

The Yard of the Week award  has come full circle in Payson with this week’s winning property. Stored among the mementos of Steven and Shirley Park is a newspaper clipping, an article published in The Payson Chronicle in the summer of 1994, that had announced their yard as Payson City’s very first Green Thumb Award winner.  The Green Thumb Award was eventually renamed Yard of the Week.

But Steve and Shirley Park have been keeping their place in award-winning shape much longer than twenty years.  The Parks have  been beautifying their corner lot, just a short walk from Wilson Elementary School, to mirror their surname since they bought their home thirty-four years ago.

When they bought the home, it was only partly finished and was surrounded by a sea of wild sunflowers.  They turned to the drawing board and sketched up their plans.  Sunflowers were removed and new soil from Salem was brought in to fill raised beds all throughout the property.  

Planning is a big part of the Park’s efforts.  Much thought goes into the planting scheme and the soil’s quality, from the best location for different varieties of flowers--the geraniums in the backyard this year, for instance, are faring better than those planted out front--and as to the soil’s balance and fertilizing needs.  Some decisions are based on trial an error.

Successes appear to outweigh the disappointments, however, and by far.  For instance, Shirley, whose role is as keeper of the Parks’ flowers, planted zinnias beneath a row of Steve’s sweet corn (Steve is over vegetables), and they are spectacular!  One might assume these are the products of pony packs purchased in bulk from a nursery, but they were started from seed--a zinnia cactus mix--and they are, much like the rest of the place, a must-see.

But as the Green Thumb Award, handed to them twenty years ago, indicates, it is no surprise that there would be so much to please the eyes.  In fact, Shirley has won awards in years past for her zinnias in Onion Days Flower Show competitions. You may get the chance to see them there again this year.

Congratulations to Steven and Shirley Park and kudos to you for a commitment to your place that spans decades.