“Flowers are like friends; They bring color to your world.” This quote from an unknown author represents very well what the flowers in our environment mean. But we can also say that orderly houses and the well-kept gardens around them bring harmony to our world.
At the end of bright, sunny September, we visited the door of Gáspár Tőkei and his wife with Deputy Mayor Márton Nyíri and Ádám Juhász, deputy mayor of Alag district, to hand over the certificate and sign recognizing them as “Clean yard, neat house”. As we learned, garden care is the responsibility of the housewife, Piroska, who revealed that she has two favorite flowers: the rose and the orchid.
The married couple spent their childhood in the countryside – we found out – the husband is from Szatmári, the wife is from Kaba, Hajdú-Bihar counties. They have lived in Dunakesz for decades, both of them worked at Járművávíto, and the foreman husband still earns his living there today. Piroska is already enjoying her happy retirement years, taking care of the garden of their house in Lehel Street, whose former owner, the aunt, was looked after for years.
“In the countryside, we had a big garden, land, yard, with livestock, lots of flowers, my mother planted all kinds of flowers. When we were able to come here, all I wanted was to plant the garden with simple, beautiful and old flowers, where bees and butterflies land for our beauty. My favorites are roses and orchids, but there are also useful and cultivated plants. By the way, I like all flowers, especially the marsh hibiscus, which has been blooming continuously since the beginning of May-June,” says Piroska, who also adds that she doesn’t like thujias and a garden completely covered with grass.
“The ‘Clean yard, tidy house’ and ‘Green balcony’ contests are very popular among the population, the number of applicants is already over hundreds. This year, we are close to the presentation of the twentieth award. On this beautiful autumn day, we are in the garden of the Tőkei family, in a very, very cozy, nice little garden. We decided that the family definitely deserves the recognition plaque – says deputy mayor Márton Nyíri, who came to the handover ceremony together with Ádám Juhász, who maintains daily contact with almost all property owners.
Looking back a bit into the past, the deputy mayor talked about how people first linked the recognition to the old system, which is why they received criticism. But they thought it was worth recognizing the work of those people who contribute to the cityscape in this way, with the orderly gate and flowery green garden, and finally time has proven that they made a good decision. Márton Nyíri also talked about the fact that in many cases the neighbors encourage each other or they submit the application instead of the neighbor. Sometimes they also receive a request that the handover takes place on a significant event, name day or birthday.
The conditions of the application include primarily a clean, tidy, well-kept garden with flowers, and secondly the facade of the house and the part of the house facing the street, so that it does not spoil the cityscape. It is also a condition that the applicant participates in selective collection.
“Fortunately, I must say that the Dunakesians are receptive to this. So selective waste collection is also one of the conditions for awarding the clean yard regular house plaque. But I have to mention that a dear fellow resident of the housing estate, when he read the “Clean yard, neat house” campaign in the city newspaper, applied to ask why there is no such competition for the housing estate? At first we said that it was because there are not many gardens in the housing estate. “Well,” he said, “but there are very nice balconies, very nice balconies.” Then we noticed that we have roommates who almost create a small garden on the balcony, but we have already seen a beautiful spice garden on a balcony in an apartment complex. That’s why we created the “Green Balcony” recognition, which can be awarded to those who maintain a green, flowery, horticulturally arranged balcony and balcony, so the residents of housing estates are not left out of the competition,” highlighted Márton Nyíri – who finally drew attention to the fact that that it is relatively easy to register for the competition on the city’s website. If they enter “Clean yard, neat house” in the search engine, they will find the information and download the application form.
B. Szentmártoni
Photo: filmkovacs.hu
