Bluebonnets planted

By Melinda L. Lucas

A project that retiring Shackelford County judge Robert Skelton has been working on was finally realized this week as commissioners and other county workers joined him on the Courthouse Square Tuesday.

The concrete-lined flower beds along the outer sidewalks were cleaned out with the help of two or three pieces of heavy equipment, while dirt and existing plants were removed. New topsoil went in, and by mid-afternoon, the commissioners had broadcast several bags of bluebonnet seeds.

Skelton wanted to get this project done before he leaves office Dec. 31, which worked out pretty well considering November and early December are the right months to plant bluebonnet seeds.

“Larry Brewster of Garden World recommended that we take the old soil out,” said the judge. “And we were told by Turner Seed that the seeds need to be in place by this time of the year in order to freeze so they can germinate.”

Part of a donation from the C.E. Jacobs Foundation, which was given several months ago, is funding the project, Skelton said.