Student landscaping will be seen worldwide

By GRAEME SMITH, The Globe and Mail
Thursday, July 25, 2002

It would be hard enough for novice landscapers to install 1,200 shrubs, 50 trees, 1,200 blue-flowering plants, and 90 square metres of interlocking paving stones.

But the scary part is that millions of people will inspect their work, a vast sweep of greenery in front of the podium where Pope John Paul is scheduled to speak Sunday to Roman Catholic followers on World Youth Day.

"We're excited, but we're nervous," said Ms. Piotrowska, 26. "It's hard to grasp how big it's going to be."

"It's crazy," said her classmate, 23-year-old Melinda Watkins, nodding.

The job isn't easy, partly because the 18 students in Humber College's horticulture program who got the assignment have just begun their studies. A few hours after they learned to lay paving stones, they were considering how to build a pathway for holy processions.

"Maybe we'll get our sins absolved," Ms. Piotrowska said, smiling.

Program co-ordinator Harry Chang laughed: "You'll get free tickets to heaven."

"I'll take two," Ms. Piotrowska replied.

Their work began last week when they placed bricks for a low wall and a pathway skirting the front of the papal stage at Downsview Lands, a former military airfield in north Toronto where hundreds of thousands of people will gather for the religious festival.

Earlier this month they supervised the placement of young trees -- birches, spruces and firs -- that were hoisted by crane and placed in front of the blue-and-white vinyl wallpaper covering the front of the stage. Potted shrubs hide the root balls of the trees and the students shovelled decorative gravel around the shrubs to conceal the pots.

To keep the blooms from wilting, the students waited until the end of last week before heaving the 20-kilogram flowerpots into slots on the ramp. Most of the pots are overflowing with blue lobelia, intended to create the look of a seamless flower bed.

The stage stands about eight metres high, supported by a thicket of metal rods and surrounded by three large towers.

A long double staircase slopes down to the ground in front. Design director Michael Madden had initially imagined a waterfall splashing down the incline toward the audience, but he says "technical issues" forced him to substitute a cascade of blue and white flowers.

"We're trying to evoke the feeling of water," said Mr. Madden, whose experience includes designing sets for major films such as Blade II.