Program Helps Kids Blossom

Fresh from planting a wildflower garden at the World War II Memorial, Adolfo Guzman, 13, and his 11-year-old brother, Eric, were at the White House grounds on Saturday, offering garden tour visitors advice on sowing black-eyed Susan seeds. They were among a group of city kids from two area Boys & Girls clubs taking part in a new greening initiative underway in Washington and five other U.S. cities.

Under the First Bloom program, launched last year by the National Park Foundation with the support of first lady Laura Bush, children get to plant and maintain gardens in national parks and other sites. The initiative offers "a consistent outreach program that reaches urban kids on a national level," the foundation's Jamie Patten said.

It also allows kids who aren't interested in other programs, such as those focused on sports or arts, to find themselves digging in the dirt, said Kevin Dowdell, acting CEO of the region's 20 Boys & Girls Clubs units. "For most of these kids, the concept of a garden doesn't even enter their mind-set, planting and growing, so this is an opportunity to open them to a whole new world of life, which can change them dramatically."

"A lot of the boys caught on to this, more than we thought," the foundation's Mark Kornmann said. "They can get their hands dirty."

Adolfo Guzman is already becoming a green thumb, recently instructing his uncle in how to plant a potted coneflower. "He was doing it all wrong," Adolfo said.

Adrian Higgins