Kids in the Garden

It's been over a month since my last installment of "Kids in the Garden." Here are some new ideas for the month:

Turn on the sprinkler! Do you remember running through the sprinkler as a kid? (Are you from the "Slip-and-Slide" generation like me?) Well, encourage your kids to get in touch with the simple life. But, don't just run...discuss the feeling of the grass between your toes. Encourage kids to catch water on their tongues like a flower catches the rain. Look for rainbows. Talk about the warm sun. A good old-fashioned romp through the sprinkler is a great opportunity to experience nature.

(These plants were spotted in our latest garden survey)

As the flowers are popping, my daughter and I have been "surveying the property." I remember doing this as a kid with my dad. He would announce, "it's time to survey the property!" And I would follow him out of the house to see how things were growing. It was a great opportunity for parent-child bonding, as well as a good way to develop my nature observation skills. Today my daughter and I walked the yard and then stopped for some wonderful swing time and some baseball practice. (The kid is developing a great batting stance. Like mother like daughter...she throws like me too. I think we need to get dad out to help her with that.)


A few weeks ago we planted sunflowers in a square. The goal is to create a sunflower house, where my daughter says she will play "Little House on the Prairie" once the sunflowers are full grown.

Our herb garden is in full swing and I'm encouraging the little one to sample. Last month I talked about her passion for onions. She will graze on them straight from the garden, so we planted a second onion patch near her swing set. This month we planted new perennials and also put in our tender annual herbs. Basil is a personal favorite. After putting ours in, we created a pot full of basil for granddad. He will use it to make tomato, mozarella and basil with oil for himself. Not only is my daughter learning to appreciate diverse flavors herself, she is learning to share with others AND is learning that plants are something to be cherished. They make great gifts!

We've visited many garden centers this month. I am letting her help me pick plants. While strolling through Home Depot, she announced "I want to make a sign." Last year I started a "reading garden" in the shade for her in an attempt to make a space of her own. She has renamed the garden the "princess garden." We picked out a concrete stone for her sign (cost = $2.69.) She had me write "If you are a fairy princess, please come in." We painted the words with "Once Upon a Time" (hot pink) Disney paint, which was leftover from painting her room earlier in the month. The sign as at the entrance of her garden. She's got plans for more signs in the works. One she mentioned is, "Princes are welcome too."

As always, I encourage you to go with the flow. Follow your child's whims and learn what aspects of nature excite him. The more you teach, the more your child will pick up on your ideas and run with them. Nature offers an unlimited playground and a parent need only open a child's eyes to some of the possibilities.

An Herb by Any Other Name...

I am fascinated by herbs. In my mid-twenties, I first visited an herbalist to help me with PMS related symptoms. It was an eye opening experience for never before had I deeply considered the medicinal properties of the plants around me. And soon, I realized the diversity of the smells and tastes of herbs could enhance my life to a great degree. Before this time, I thought of herbs as dried and sprinkled on chicken. Occasionally, fresh herbs were used for making fabulous mozzarella and tomato appetizers. After my herb conversion, I began using herbs on a regular basis for cooking, aromatherapy, pain relief, and beauty.

A couple of my closest friends are naturopathic doctors. From them I have learned about herbal poultices, herbal teas, and other herbal remedies. The other day I had the pleasure of walking through my neighborhood with one of these friends and was delightfully surprised when she began pointing out herbs on our local tour. Growing along the side of the road we saw burdock, wild carrot and other generally overlooked, but precious, plants. I have learned over the years that herbs extended beyond rosemary, parsley and thyme. Botanically speaking, an herb is any plant with a non woody stem. However, we generally call only the plants that have some practical benefit to man "herbs." It is amazing how many plants along the side of the road fit the bill.

When I arrived home from my walk, I offered to dig up one of my favorite wild flowers for my friend. My jack-in the pulpits have spread through my front yard over the past year. Their unusual flower and unique trefoil leaf seemed a fair trade for the jacob's ladder that my friend Sara dug from her woods for me the week earlier. While researching herbs online this evening, I learned that jackin the pulpit too is considered an herb with a wide variety of medicinal uses. This realization rings bells in my head. I think of all the land clearing that we humans perform. We have been warned of the dangers of losing flora that may benefit us by such practices. My walk in the neighborhood really brought this issue closer to home.

My favorite use of herbs is for aromatherapy. As others put on a pot of coffee in the morning, I plug in my aromatherapy burner. I usually warm lavender, but sometimes add rose, jasmine, chamomile, patchouli and a number of other favorites from my collection. The scents can change my mood and even fix ailments such as headaches. My favorite accessory is a Tisserand essential oil warmer and I highly recommend one for anyone who is interested in aromatherapy. Throw out your Glade Plugins and other scents. Once you use an aromatherapy warmer and your favorite fragrance you will be hooked. The natural smells permeate the house and can overpower the toughest unwanted odors. (I had a friend last week ask me why my house always smells so good.)

This year, one of my gardening goals is to expand my herb garden as much as I can and to learn about various uses of herbs. Many years ago, I purchased what I thought was my first herb. This St. Johnswort is a beautiful little bush with yellow flowers. After ten years and three St. Johnswort plants I have still not tried to make use of the plant, but just knowing that I have this common depression fighter cheers me for some reason. This year, I am learning that I have many more herbs than I realized and they are among the best growers in my garden. These gems include yarrow, evening primrose and bee balm. Their newly discovered status elevates them in my mind somehow. An herb by any other name is still an herb...I am anxious to discover which ones hide under pseudonyms.

Shaker Gardens

Today my family visited the Canterbury Shaker Village in Canterbury, New Hampshire. The Shakers were a religious sect practicing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Shakers lived among 19 villages in the United States. They believed in devoting their lives to God and hard work. They are best known for their furniture making skills, but were also innovative inventors. For example, they invented the flat broom to which we are accustomed today. The downfall of the Shakers was their practice of celibacy. The grounds of the Canterbury Shakers is beautiful and it was an extremely enjoyable day.

Most interesting to me was the variety of plantings on the site. The Shakers were self sufficient and therefore incorporated large gardens into their landscape. The gardens are maintained today and I've included photos of them here. The Shakers also were seasoned herbalist, using a wide variety of herbs regularly in their infirmary and some for cooking. I purchased three varieties of sage, a variety of oregano I had never before seen, and lemon verbena. This year, one of my goals in my own garden is to collect as many new perennials herbs as I can. This trip helped launch me toward achieving this goal. The gift shop in Canterbury also sells seeds and here I picked up some hollyhock, a plant I admired in a new friend's garden last summer.

The trees in the landscape were amazing. What a treat to catch the spring blossoms of lilac, apple, dogwood and others. The large trees leading to the Shaker meeting house were particularly noteworthy. They were aged trees with rough bark leading one through a grass and dandelion strewn field. My daughter played here and picked yellow flowers as our tour guide introduced us to the Shaker lifestyle.

A visit to the Shakers village is well worth any gardener's time. I highly recommend it. See the Boston Globe article The Last Ones Standing for an interesting article about the four Shakers remaining. See Shakertown.net for information about Shaker sites to visit.