Hours Update: ALL Weston Nurseries and Weston Wholesale locations will be closed on Easter Sunday, March 31st.

Create An Educational Garden

Create An Educational Garden

By R. Wayne Mezitt

We’re all becoming increasingly aware that we need to find ways to reconnect with the natural world. Understanding and appreciating nature helps ensure that future generations can continue to love, honor, and respect our world.

Today’s demands for our time — jobs, school, sports, social expectations, and technology — can seem overwhelming, and we’re continuously barraged by information detailing dangers and threats in our environment: sun exposure, tick bites, germs, poisons, sprays, and chemicals. As we voice our worries, our children listen and learn and may become even more reluctant to leave their screens and spend time in the “risky’’ outdoors.

A garden designed for kids can help young minds put these concerns into healthier perspective. As trustee chairman of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society at Elm Bank, I’ve found that providing spaces that encourage children to connect safely with nature helps them learn how the natural world functions and why it’s important to them. It’s also ideal for building self-confidence and learning new skills.

Young minds perceive their world in far different ways than adults; a child’s mind is always actively seeking new information and making connections — some that may seem bizarre and unrealistic to adults. This is how creativity develops: trying new ways to combine what their senses are telling them. Here are ideas for planning your home landscape with children in mind.

Smell

Scientific research reveals that our sense of smell is one of the most powerful components of memory and emotions. We’ve all noticed that a child’s first impulse is to smell a flower to determine its fragrance. LilacsKoreanspice viburnumDavid Austin roses, and summersweet (Clethra) offer some of the most aromatic flowers to delight the nose. Many herbs release distinguishing scents when touched: thyme, lavender, basil, and rosemary. Katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum) reveals a most distinctive and unusual cotton candy-like perfume each autumn as its leaves fall to the ground.

Sight

What we see and how we perceive it is a primary aspect of garden design. Children distinguish distances and perspective on a different scale from adults. A turn in a garden pathway can conceal an unexpected bold-leaf surprise like hosta ‘Gentle Giant’, also known as regal fern (Osmunda regalis), or the dinner-plate-size flowers of a rose mallow hibiscus. One of the ultimate insect-attracting plants — perfect for showing kids how pollinators work — is mountain mint (Pycnanthemum), a profuse summer-bloomer with fragrant gray-green foliage. And climbing only a few feet up into the branches of a willow tree affords a much different vantage point of the garden for a small child.

Touch

Kids should be encouraged to touch and feel the texture of plants. They can compare the smooth, distinctively-colored bark of a birch, Stewartia, or paperbark maple (Acer griseum) with the rough-textured trunk of a flowering crabapple. The fuzzy, velvety foliage of lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) provides a gentle sensation for young fingers. Shrubs with sharp features like American holly (Ilex opaca), roses, juniper, and raspberries can guide pathways and deter entry into an area.

Hearing

Hearing a trickle of water from a fountain or stream can entice a child to explore further, as can the tone of a wind chime hidden among the branches of a ginkgo tree. The crunch of gravel underfoot as the path changes might indicate we’re entering a new section of the garden. Cheeps of baby birds nesting in a wren house add a musical touch to the area. A bamboo garden clacker (shishi-odoshi) at a stream or pond entices young minds to investigate the unusual sound and learn how it works.

Taste

Taste is a significant sense to be nurtured, but with greater caution: Be sure children understand that they need to confirm with an adult the safety of anything before they put it in their mouths. Tasting mint leaves, chewing a sweet yellow birch(Betula) twig, nibbling a cilantro leaf, and biting into the stem of lemon grass each offer a unique flavor experience perhaps unfamiliar to many children.

Though the temperate seasons are probably when children will be enjoying their gardens, they may be excited about playing outside even in winter, when the weather is agreeable. Cold-weather garden activities might include examining an icy water feature and climbing a low-branched tree. Trees with colorful bark, weeping deciduous plants whose structure is most visible when their leaves have fallen, and evergreens that form a snowy cave all appeal to kids’ senses.


Many public gardens feature areas for children. Take the time to visit one near you; it will help you develop ideas for designing a kid-friendly oasis right in your own yard.

This article was originally published in the Boston Globe.

Share Via:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email
Print
WESTON NURSERIES

Weston Nurseries is committed to being a center for horticultural knowledge. Enjoy!

SEARCH TOPICS
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Search in posts
Search in pages
SHOP

Shops Trees, Shrubs, & Perennials – in stores and online.

EXPLORE MORE
PLANT CARE
SOCIAL
SEARCH BY MONTH
Archives
EVENTS & CLASSES

Online Shopping at Weston Nurseries

We are excited to offer two unique opportunities to shop online at Weston Nurseries.

Farm To Door™

WN Online Shopping icons_Ship to Door
Plants shipped directly to you!

Browse our online inventory for a huge selection of plants available to ship directly from the farm to your home! Anywhere in New England!*

Shop Our Garden Centers

WN Online Shopping icons-02
Great for large plants and larger orders!

Shop your local store for plants, garden supplies, soil, mulch and more. Then pick up your order at the garden center or arrange for local drop off!

If you are interested in ordering gift cards, please click here!
*Some restrictions may apply to certain states.

CHRISTMAS TREE SALE

bALSAM fIR cHRISTMAS TREES - WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Come into any of our garden centers at Hopkinton, Hingham, or Chelmsford starting today, December 15th and save on Balsam Fir Christmas Trees while supplies last!

Also this is the LAST CHANCE to earn Holiday Dollars! (thru Dec 17)

*Sale Fine Print:For “Cash and Carry” transactions only. Offer good while supplies last.

No open orders or deliveries for future dates. All Flash Sale products must be taken the same day. Not valid on previous orders. No transfers allowed between stores on any sale items.

Skip to content