ST. CLOUD -- The flower beds outside the St. Cloud police station have been a whole lot more beautiful the past two summers thanks to the hard work and passion of one woman.

Kathy Dewes says one day early last year during the civil unrest she made a routine visit to the police station just to pick up some paperwork. While she was there she noticed how weedy the flowers beds were.

After sleeping on it for a night, the next day she called Chief Blair Anderson and asked if she could plant a few flowers to increase the police morale.

These flower beds were full of weeds, I had weeds up to my wast, and they didn't have stems they had stalks and they were the prickly ones.  I started on the far one by the steps first.

(Before Photo) submitted by Dewes
(Before Photo) submitted by Dewes
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Dewes says getting the flowers to plant was the easy part thanks to donations from businesses.

She says the police chief and others who work at the police station showed their appreciation immediately.

He stood at the corner of the flower bed and he said, 'you don't know what this means to us.' He said, 'when everything is burning down, people are rioting, and you are coming here and planting flowers.'

This summer Dewes expanded her project getting over $600 worth of flowers donated and she added a few vegetables.

(Photo: Alex Svejkovsky, WJON)
(Photo: Alex Svejkovsky, WJON)
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Dewes now tends to 700 square feet of flower beds and put in over 200 hours this year planting, weeding, and keeping them up.

She event got three men to come to help her refinish the benches that overlook the flowers.

(Photo: Alex Svejkovsky, WJON)
(Photo: Alex Svejkovsky, WJON)
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She says it is still important for her to let the police know someone cares.

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Next year she would like to get more community involvement like possibly having one day where you can donate a flower and meet some officers.

On Monday night, during the St. Cloud City Council meeting, Mayor Dave Kleis honored Dewes as 'Neighbor of the Month' for her efforts at the police station.

St. Cloud Police Flower Garden

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