Former Ballard High School parent Cyle Eldred is Show Designer for the Northwest Flower & Garden Show. He has worked the show for 22 years but has this to say about last year’s BHS participants, “Not only did they do a good job but they were a class act; perhaps the classiest I’ve seen, including from adults , in all my years with the show.” He can’t wait to see what the Botany class creates for this year’s mini-garden.

When Eldred talks to high school students invited he encourages them to give their creativity free rein, “You’re more out there than adults.” In fact he’s created an award category in addition to such traditional ones as Best Design or Plant Use; it’s called the Most Funky/Cool/Unusual/Creative category. This designation definitely applied to Ballard’s garden last year: Apocalypse. The highlight for one student was sanctioned use of spray paints to create garden graffiti.

As a core group of students from India Carlson’s Botany class prepare their garden for the 2011 Northwest Flower & Garden Show that runs from February 23-27 at the Convention Center the creativity is reaching fever pitch. Every student in the yearlong Botany class is there by choice. The smaller group that meets regularly after school to work on the non-credit project is passionate about plants, and art. Although initial interest starts higher the conflicts of after-school jobs takes its toll, “They’re my survivors,” teacher India Carlson said.

In brainstorming their theme for this year the students shared a common vision: a setting consumed by plants. Their vignette, as Eldred refers to the mini-gardens that will be created by five participating schools, is Mad Tea Party. “This year will be a little friendlier than last,” Carlson said.

The show organizers provide the 8’x8’space, sawdust and some sod. The participants, from the huge professionally designed gardens to the mini-gardens, have to provide all the internal structure – as in how to hold in the dirt and what goes in it. The big exhibitors have a week to build their garden; Carlson and company will have one day.

“We’ll do a dry run here at school,” Carlson told me. “And say this wouldn’t be possible without my amazing husband Michael Carlson.” Earlier that day he had delivered a table he’d built for them from a salvaged door with four mismatched table legs. The students were eager for me to leave so that could begin its transformation with paints into the place setting for a tea party abandoned and overtaken by plants.

The participating high schools in Seattle are Ballard, Ingraham and Nathan Hale. As part of a Funky Junk section they are also encouraged to “re-characterize” objects. Eldred describes this as going beyond re-use or recycle to making a discarded object “cooler than it was before.” As part of this mandate various purveyors donate goods to the student gardens. Ballard’s Mad Tea Party has benefited from its community partners at ReStore, Limback’s Lumber and Swanson’s.

Each student told me their own plant story, reclaiming a yard from choke weed, propagating a lipstick bush, sprouting avocado seeds. Stacy Win has always wanted a greenhouse. Some like memorizing Latin names of plants, others prefer the lab work in photosynthesis; all of them like actually growing plants in the greenhouse dedicated to the late Ballard teacher Toni Bukowski. Bukowski made her love of gardening and science a trademark of Ballard High School.

As for their extracurricular efforts for the NW Flower & Garden Show, every student had heard it was, in student Evan’s Fitzgerald’s words, “Like a ton of fun.” Melissa Parrish and Phil Sherman had just made their first trip to ReStore and were very excited about finding a mailbox to attach to the white picket fence that will form the perimeter of their garden. Kish Castonguay had brought in teacups and saucers. In addition to growing particular plants for the garden they have made stepping stones, collected children’s furniture and are now looking for more teapots (lids not necessary) to fill with herbs.

Meanwhile the Botany class is fighting to stay alive as an elective that counts toward science credit. The greenhouse has to earn its own costs plus make enough money from plant sales to fund extras such as field trips. Despite the emphasis for society to go “green,” it’s classes like Horticulture and Botany that often get cut because of budget woes and district decisions.

As for what made Ballard’s act so classy last year according to Eldred…the students left hidden candies and notes of compliments in the gardens of competing high schools. That was when their theme was Apocalypse so who knows what to expect from an even friendlier tea party. Creative is a given, everything else will be a surprise.

www.gardenshow.com