As the sun starts to shine stronger on The Plains, there will be more than chilly Auburn students turning out to bask in it. There will also be vibrant Auburn flowers. Dogwoods, azaleas, jonquils and hydrangeas are a few examples of the spring blooms that bring additional color to Auburn beside the traditional orange and blue. To showcase Auburn's flora, a trail was designated more than 15 years ago throughout the city to direct drivers where some of the more colorful patches of landscaping had been done. "It's festive in this time of the year," said John
Wild, president of the Auburn-Opelika Tourism Bureau, "like around Christmastime people are driving around looking at the lights."
However, unlike Christmas, which comes the same time every year, scheduling the opening of the Auburn Floral Trail involves a lot of guesswork. The opening of the trail was traditionally scheduled to happen near A-Day, but this year the date was changed to March 18, said Robert Crittenden of the Auburn Floral Trail committee. While it is called a trail, the tour better accommodates vehicles than pedestrians. It consists of approximately 14 miles of Auburn streets, Crittenden said, most of which run through neighborhoods. One year the trail was 22 miles, but Crittenden said that was too long. Some of the residents who live in neighborhoods the trail runs through say they enjoy that the Auburn Beautification Council designates a trail of floral sights in and through Auburn.
"I think it's a wonderful idea," said Homer Turner of Cary Drive. "I applaud it. (My wife and I) just feel like it's a responsibility of all people to keep a decent-looking yard." Turner, whose yard has jonquils on the lawn, dark violet pansies by the mailbox and muscadine grape vines on the brick lampposts, said he enjoys making his yard beautiful. Turner said he appreciates when people drive past his yard and tell him how much they admire it. "It makes you feel good, like your little corner of the world looks nice," Turner said. However, at 82 he said he can't actively maintain it. He contracts the fertilizing and mowing out to a company. But his wife likes to plant flowers in the spring, Turner said.
In order to create the trail Crittenden said he and his wife, with whom he forms the Auburn Floral Trail Committee, look at an older version of the trail and then tweak it to create each year's trail. However, the committee has to take a few things into consideration when forming the trail. It cannot run through culs-de-sac and drivers on the trail must have a continuous flow of traffic. Crittenden said this is because tour groups will sometimes drive their buses along the trail and they need to be able to navigate the streets. While there may not be a lot to see on the trail now, Crittenden anticipates there will be more flowers blooming soon. The trail is divided into a north and a south section. The two trails are joined by College Street. The north trail is 3.4 miles long and the south is 10.5 miles long.
Maps of the trail are available at the The Auburn Alumni Center, the Auburn-Opelika Tourism Center and hotels around Auburn. "I want people to appreciate our city as much as I do and I love flowers," Crittenden said about why he helps designate the trail. "(The purpose is) to showcase the flora of the city of Auburn and the homes just let people see that Auburn is a beautiful city to see and live."
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