Blue Planet Garden Blog

C is for Children's Gardens...and for Cute

It was the cuteness that killed me.

When I accepted The Inadvertent Farmer’s invitation to judge the children’s garden contest she has been running all summer, Kindergardens - Let’em Get Dirty, I was prepared to sift thoughtfully through various entries and judge them based on creativity, layout, family participation and overall commitment to the contest’s themes.

I was NOT prepared to be won over by some of the most charming, adorable and heartwarming photos of parents, grandparents, children, pets and chickens happily digging in the dirt together.  As my co-judge photographer Ashley Campbell would agree, choosing one winner was incredibly hard to do. Since my blog is not the official contest host, I’ve decided to give out my own awards, with no prize granted but the satisfaction of knowing your warm and witty blog posts have been a highlight of my summer.

So without further ado, my picks for the first annual Cutest Gardener awards:

Cutest Trench Digger - So the shovel's a little big! It's nothing a determined gardener can't muscle their way through.

Garden Designers Roundtable: From Junk Pile to Garden Art

I’m taking a little liberty with September’s Garden Designers Roundtable topic of renovation and restoration to focus on one of my favorite ways to breathe new life into a garden:  Repurposing tired lawn ornaments, found objects and plain old junk into garden art.  Instead of my usual chatter, this post is all about the photos.

From my own garden, my beloved Peace Lady sculpture, made entirely from reclaimed metal by artist Chad Glashoff.

The Latest Scoop on Garden Writing

 

 GWA Symposium 2009 garden tour

Has a year gone by already? It's hard to believe I'm packing my bags today for the Garden Writers Association annual symposium in Dallas.  Last year was an eye-opening experience, and I'm looking forward to the gardens and seminars - not to mention a chance to see friends and connect with other garden writers across the country.  I'm less excited by the thought of the scorchingly hot, humid weather, so if any Texans out there have tips on keeping cool, pass 'em on!

Designing a Children's Garden

This post is in honor of the wonderful contest celebrating kids in the garden that The Inadvertent Farmer
has been running all summer.

I create all kinds of gardens for all kinds of people, and my favorites to design aren’t necessarily those with the biggest budgets or the most innovative features.  Instead, I’m most inspired when I’m working on a garden that I know will truly be USED, and families with young children almost always fit that description.

While there aren’t any rules for designing a garden that includes kids, here are a few guidelines to keep in mind:

Think Flexible

A new garden can be expensive, and features that work for families with young children, older children or no children at all make the best investment since a family’s dynamic changes over time.  A design strategy I’ve used more than once is what one of my clients dubbed The Racetrack Design, a winding DG (decomposed granite) path that circles the lawn and weaves in and out of planting beds.  For adults, a path like this is a wonderful way to enjoy the garden, while for kids (and dogs) it’s a continuous racetrack, and perfect for wagons, tricycles and games.