Grow your greens

Stephanie Alexander, renowned cook and food educator, launched the Awards in 2024, to celebrate the inventive ways educators are exploring health, wellbeing and sustainability in schools and early childhood settings. This year’s awards feature nine categories, including ‘Flower Power’ presented by ABC Gardening Australia magazine. This category celebrates gardens that showcase colour, joy, and vibrancy while enriching their local environment. From attracting pollinators to growing edible blooms, it recognises those who harness the true power of flowers.

This year saw nearly 500 entries, and the 27 finalists represent early childhood services, primary schools, and secondary schools from small regional towns to busy metro centres in every state and territory. Winners will be revealed on September 16, with each of the nine category winners receiving a prize pack valued at over $4,000.

Here are the three finalists for the ‘Flower Power’ award:

Great Lakes College, NSW

“At Great Lakes College, Forster Campus, flowers aren’t just decoration-they’re an integral part of our garden and our students’ creativity in the kitchen. Our edible flowers, grown alongside herbs and seasonal produce, are used to transform dishes into works of art, adding bursts of colour and unique flavours. From borage and pansies scattered over cheesecakes to nasturtiums and pea flowers brightening fresh salads, students learn how presentation can elevate a meal. Our blooms also make their way into small, hand-tied posies sold at our weekly morning café simulation, where students test their barista skills while running a professional-style service for staff. These mini bouquets bring joy to classrooms and offices, while teaching students the value of presentation, customer service and sustainability. Pollinators thrive in our garden and the beautiful blue-banded bees drawn to our blue verbena and cornflowers keep the cycle of growth alive. In all food subjects, students learn about the role of bees in biodiversity and we dream of adding native bees to keep close by. Our flowers don’t just look wonderful, but they fuel our passion for creating beautiful food in every season that our students are so proud of!”

Bundaberg Special School, QLD

“Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation has been an integral part of Bundaberg Special School for 11 years. Students have been growing flowers to help attract pollinators into our farm for quite a while. Within our herb garden we have a native beehive, which the students love checking, we often spend time trying to find them in the garden area on the herbs and flowers. Often we will leave our vegetables to run to flower so to help attract more pollinators in the farm. Which then helps to provide us with seeds and seedlings to replant in different garden beds. Due to the various sensory needs of our students, all our plantings are edible or non-toxic. We have students that come to the farm daily to pick a small posie of flowers to help them transition to the buses in afternoon. Allowing time for the walk to the garden and then quietly pick the flowers helps them with their anxiety about transitioning. During the year, students pick flowers for their teachers as a ‘thank you’. Our school is in a beautiful position, as we are extending our garden area. The goal is to create flower beds in a section to allow students to pick flowers to take especially on Mother’s Day and for family birthdays.”

Freshwater Creek Steiner School, VIC

“We love flowers here at the FWCSS and have grown our school from a bare paddock to a destination of choice for pollinators of all persuasions. Preppies love flowers for their magic potions and fairy gardens. All our classrooms’ all have a freshly picked vase of flowers on their nature tables. The kitchen garden is the pinnacle of our flower power. We grow flowers as floral edibles, for developing fine motor skills during a seed saving class, for wreaths and flower crowns at our Spring festivals.

We send flower seeds, bulbs, tubers and posies home with the children to spread the blooming love with families. We thank the flowers that know how busy a kitchen gardener is, by returning year after year, unannounced, but always welcome – you know who they are – cosmos, calendula, borage, marigold, forget me nots, love lies bleeding. National tree day 2025 had us starting an Indigenous pollinator garden. Planting species that will flower all year round, we will see even more pollinators here than ever before. All our school rejoices in the beauty and joy a garden full of flowers bring us.”

View all the finalists here.