Montrose is in bloom and it’s not just vegetation the town is talking about.

Over the last 18 months, the town has revamped its riverfront image, creating a museum and outdoor sitting area. Across town, volunteers have planted hundreds of flowers, installed dozens of decorative wooden flower boxes and added signs.

With the changes, town officials applied to have America in Bloom judges come and review their town and offer their advice. Thursday and Friday, the pair of judges did just that.

But the results won’t be known until Sept. 28 through 30, when (hopefully) a Montrose representative will head south to Eureka Springs, Ark., for the America in Bloom symposium and awards program.

While at the symposium, representatives from the towns reviewed will have the opportunity to attend educational classes on working with government agencies, planning urban greenspace and motivating volunteers, among others topics.

“These are networking opportunities with cities having the same problems,” said judge Norm Kleber, adding that one town may be great at writing grants, another great at working with the railroad.

Montrose is up against 10 other towns in the 1 to 5,000 resident category. Over the last month, Kleber and fellow judge Dwight Lund have visited towns from Oregon to Vermont.

In the end, the pair will make suggestions for changes Montrose could make. But not before taking a look at the town.

Thursday, the pair arrived in southeast Iowa, snagged lunch and then took a surrey ride through Montrose.

“It was a different experience,” Lund said. “We were going slow enough to absorb more.”

While in the surrey, the judges saw 80 percent of Montrose as required by contest rules.

“We showed them the good as well as the bad,” said Mary Sue Chatfield with the Montrose America in Bloom project, adding that the town wouldn’t be in the competition without Matt Mohrfeld’s inspiration.

The Fort Madison greenhouse owner singled out Montrose about a year ago with plans to donate flowers for such a project.

“There is no way we could have afforded to do a thing like this,” Chatfield said.

Mohrfeld said he will donate flowers again next year, but will donate to a new town with the potential to bloom the year after that, Chatfield said.

“We’ll find a way to sustain this,” Chatfield said. “We crave picture–perfect.”

Kleber and Lund weren’t looking for picture–perfect, necessarily. They were looking for Montrose growth — education to environment, business to community, flowering plants to grass.

“There are eight categories,” Kleber said. “And each of those categories is broken down into municipal, residential and commercial … so there are 24 categories really. It’s pretty chaotic.”

The pair asked a lot of questions — about the sewer lines, the possibility of a passenger train stop in Montrose, the economic development in town and getting an Internet site.

“Every community has features that are predominant,” Lund said, and in Montrose it was the surrey ride.

For Kleber, it was the sense of family.

“You don’t get that in a bigger city,” he said.

The project has brought the town together, the MRI members said.

“A lot of people who don’t normally volunteer said, ‘What can I do?’ ” Helen Fowler said. “Eventually, we got it all done.”

The Boy Scouts built a fountain/waterfall behind the Hunold Heritage Center museum, Fowler said. The Central FFA built the flower boxes. The middle school children built the wooden trash covers.

Those who were opposed to the project at the beginning are coming around, Chatfield said.

“It awakened a sense of community pride,” she said. “People look around now and see — possibilities.”

“It’s amazing what a little flower can do,” Kleber said.

For more information on America in Bloom, visit www.americainbloom.org.