To the editor:
    
Alexandria is my hometown. I live and work here and enjoy all the things that make it such a great community. I am involved with Alexandria in Bloom, a privately funded non-profit organization working to bring together residents, property owners, merchants and the City of Alexandria with a focus on keeping our business areas, streets and parks clean and beautiful. 
    
In 2010, we cleaned 250 tree wells and planted flowers along King Street in the spring and fall. Just this last week we completed our 2011 spring planting on King Street.
    
I want to thank the many people who work so hard to help us achieve our goal of planting pride in Alexandria. It takes the personal effort of many volunteers to get the tree wells prepped, planted and spruced up. I also must thank the City of Alexandria for being involved and helping us with the critical task of watering the new plantings. We all know that without regular watering, the plants wouldnt last a week.  
    
Special thanks to Leslie Ariail, Allison Erdle and Rob Kaufman for reaching out to so many friends and neighbors to help make Alexandria in Bloom a success. I also want to thank Val Hawkins with the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, Stephanie Brown of the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association and Charlotte Hall from the Potomac Riverboat Company for working with the city to coordinate our joint effort. Both the City of Alexandria and Alexandria in Bloom are enthusiastically working to make this non-profit, citizen-led effort a success.  
    
Alexandria in Bloom is a long-term project that will have a lasting effect on our community. If you want to learn more about how to get involved, visit www.alexandriainbloom.org.