Puget Sound Journal: Garden's backers dig deep to keep it going

The plants are starting to knit together into a unified picture, and tender shoots of lawn are starting to make a lush frame for the carefully designed beds and paths.

But one year after the grand opening of the Highline Botanical Garden, times are tough.

The fiercely devoted garden manager is taking a sabbatical because there is no money to pay him. The much-anticipated Children's Garden is on indefinite hold until money can be found to develop it. The whole place is running on nothing but volunteer labor and grit.

Still, the garden's ardent supporters, including the woman who inspired its creation, say they shall weather the current crisis.

That woman is Elda Behm, whose venerated SeaTac garden forms the nucleus of the botanical collection at South 138th Street and 24th Avenue South, next to the North SeaTac Community Center. Last weekend, garden supporters honored Behm there with a 90th birthday celebration.

"It is just wonderful," said Behm, who can be found working at the garden every Wednesday and Thursday.

"Everyone who comes here thinks it so delightful, so peaceful," Behm said. "Someone just said to me, 'I get so intrigued in the garden.' One lady comes every day and just sits and reads her books there."

But more money must be found if the garden is to be completed, Behm said.

"It has a long way to go yet. We're definitely just working on a section at time as we can afford it. We don't have a lot of support from the community around us. We have poorer communities around us. It's just hard for us."

She has learned to celebrate the little victories: the new bench in a shady spot where visitors can enjoy the vista, the grass seed and labor from the city of SeaTac, the devotion of volunteers, who spend thousands of hours tending the plants and grounds for not so much as a cup of coffee.

One, Sue Upchurch, was named volunteer of the year for the garden during Behm's birthday celebration.

"She is just a joy to be around," Behm said, her voice alight with pleasure. "She said to me, 'You know, this is my garden now, too.' "

And so it is, Behm said, so it is. She hopes that others might soon consider the garden a place that belongs to them as well.

Behm and other supporters say they want the botanical gardens to be seen as a regional attraction in an area with few other such horticultural jewels.

But to reach that point, they simply need more money coming in, said Regina Grubb, events and marketing coordinator for the garden.

"We're really hoping if we get some donations or endowments to get the Children's Garden going," Grubb said. "Our hands are tied as far as the financial side goes."

They are selling naming rights to some prominent features in the garden, to help alleviate the financial stress, she said.

"It's $10,000 to name the pergola," Grubb said. "The bridge is also available for naming. That has a $5,000 ticket."

There have been some bright spots since the garden's grand opening in August 2002, she said. The garden is tentatively scheduled to play host to a major horticultural conference in November. A Normandy Park garden club is working on building an information kiosk at the entrance to the grounds. And a quilt raffle during Behm's birthday party brought in about $1,500.

"And Elda is as beautiful as always," Grubb said. "She was just pleased as punch about the party. She's such a rallying trouper for us."

The botanical garden is on the site of former homes bought and bulldozed as part of the airport's expansion. The Port of Seattle donated more than 10 acres for it.

The garden was the brainchild of Burien City Councilman Stephen Lamphear, a prize-winning gardener. Lamphear conceived the idea after hearing that Behm's garden, one of the finest in South King County, would also be bulldozed.

Behm's garden was then a tightly packed plant paradise in the city of SeaTac, where for 35 years she cultivated an acre lot with an impassioned selection of plants. Supporters moved even full-grown trees from her yard to the new garden.

She is determined that the new garden will be around for a lot longer than 35 years.

"I know times are hard, people just do not want to put out money for things they think are unnecessary," Behm said.

But the garden is a gift for the soul, for everyone from children to seniors to drink in beauty and nature. And she doesn't hesitate to tell visitors that. She readily gives tours of the grounds, always slipping in a ladylike fund-raising plea at the end.

"On Wednesdays and Thursdays I'm there, and I give tours," she said. "I do not hesitate to say we need funds. And (the visitors) come through."

TO LEARN MORE

For more information about the garden, visit www.highlinegarden.org.

More headlines and info from SeaTac.

Editor's Note: Puget Sound Journal is a weekly column in which reporters on the P-I's regional team offer analysis, insights and personal views on issues, events, people and places. P-I reporter Elaine Porterfield can be reached at 206-870-7851 or elaineporterfield@seattlepi.com

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