Curt Talken, Parks Landscape Supervisor
As a high schooler, he enjoyed being outdoors and mowing lawns with his younger brother to earn money. That seasonal gig turned into a 20+ career for Curt Talken, Lenexa Parks & Recreation Parks Landscape Supervisor.
“I love being outside,” Curt said. “I like the physical labor, operating equipment and the satisfaction you get after mowing the lawn and stepping back, seeing what you did and how good it looks. I take a lot of pride in that.”
The joy of doing yardwork as a teen led Curt to seek a degree in landscape architecture from Kansas State University.
“After going to school for landscape architecture, I realized that wasn’t exactly what I thought it was or what I wanted to do,” he said. “Landscape architecture is more of an office job designing the landscape around a building or development, versus being out in the field working and maintaining it.”
Curt graduated from college in 2003. He worked as a horticulturist in two other cities in Kansas before joining Lenexa Parks & Recreation in 2012 as the landscape division crew leader.
“The other municipalities were both great places to work, but it's just different here,” he said. “It's like everybody here seems to really like what they do, takes pride in what they do, wants to make things better and everyone's willing to help everyone from department to department.”
Curt leads a team of eight who oversee the landscaping and trees for 35 parks and 22 public buildings in Lenexa.
“Whether that’s in the parks, the medians, public building or the right of way that the city owns, we make sure everything looks as good as it can,” he said.
It's everything from the design of the beds, landscape installation, general landscape maintenance, tree removals and pruning, and plant propagation at our polyhouse facility.
“We’ve got a great crew,” Curt said. “They're the ones who are doing the work, making it all happen and making it look good,” he said. “I try to guide, but not over guide. They've all been here for five plus years, so I try to stay out of their way. They know what they're doing.”
Curt is the one behind the scenes getting everything coordinated, lined up, scheduled, and he’s always looking one season ahead.
“I need to stay ahead of the crew to have a plan in place for when it’s time to work on the project,” Curt said.
Spring is for landscape bed cleanup. Cutting grasses and perennials down to the ground so they come back with new growth.
Summertime is festival season. From Lenexa Art Fair and Great Lenexa BBQ Battle to Freedom Run and Food Truck Frenzy, there’s a major event nearly every month. That means Curt and his crew are mulching grounds, pruning shrubs, removing weeds – doing everything to get the landscape in top shape for visitors. And if they need to get fencing up as a barrier around an event, they do that too.
Fall is focused on plant bed cleanup and winter is for tree removals.
"You need to prune trees in the dormant season when they are not susceptible to disease and insect issues,” Curt said. "The wounds have a chance to heal before springtime comes. It’s also just easier on the crew. It's not as hot, there's less poison ivy, less chiggers and ticks.”
When it comes to plants, Curt focuses on as much in-house production using the city’s polyhouse, a type of greenhouse where crops can grow in climate-controlled conditions.
“The polyhouse is like our lifeline here to keep things going and looking good,” he said. “We grow about 10,000 plants in that polyhouse every year. It takes several months before they are ready to plant in the landscape beds.”
For larger public improvement projects, involvement from Curt’s crew changes. Regardless of who does installation — contractor or Lenexa staff — Curt’s team keeps up with all maintenance.
"It just varies from project to project on whether we do the whole thing, part of it or none of it,” he said.
Two of his favorite projects: Black Hoof Disc Golf Course and landscaping of Renner Boulevard roundabouts.
"Opening [Black Hoof Disc Golf Course] up that first day for that tournament last spring was really cool to see all the people out there using something that we spent so much time on," Curt said. "For the Renner roundabouts, I did the design work for it and then we basically saw from design through install.”
Lenexa Parks & Recreation will do complete in-house landscaping for the renovated Lenexa Old Town Activity Center and Cedar Station Park. For Sar-Ko Par Aquatic Center opening this summer, Curt’s team will be responsible for everything outside the fence.
The most common calls and emails Curt receives from the public are related to trees.
"When someone calls about a broken branch or a low branch that's hanging over the street or the sidewalk, that is something we will take care of,” he said.
But for street trees not on city property, it’s the property owner's responsibility.
“We try to assist with as many requests as possible, but still be consistent with our response to every resident,” Curt said. “Being able to help out and assist others has always been very gratifying to me.”
Tending to his parents’ garden in Raymore, Missouri, where he grew up, was how it all started. His brother Chad even followed in the same career path, working for a neighboring city.
“It taught me hard work and paying attention to detail was needed for success,” Curt said. “You wouldn’t be proud of your work if you didn’t put in the time and effort.”
Outside of work, Curt enjoys doing yardwork on his own property, traveling, attending sporting events, camping, playing disc golf, and hiking. Curt lives in Merriam with his wife, Sarah, and their two Italian Greyhound dogs, Olive and Remy.
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Published April 30, 2024