Sharon Lovejoy
 

A MIRACLE PLACE

Creating the Heart's Ease Gardens

by

Sharon Lovejoy


I asked the group of grammar school children, "What kind of a garden shall I plant in the parking lot next door?" Dozens of hands went up, voices yelled ideas, and as I scanned the group, one little boy smiled and said, "A miracle place."

There, that was the simple answer. Take one 22' x 94' parking lot and make it into a "miracle place." Believe it or not, the task didn't seem that insurmountable. After all, every garden, no matter how small, is a miracle of astounding proportions.

My husband and I knew that we could, somehow, with lots of imagination and sweat, mixed with back-breaking labor and love, create a haven for all of the kids visiting our shop and garden.

I am fortunate. I have spent countless hours teaching children about nature and gardens, and many more hours observing how the kids play and interact in our gardens. Within moments of stepping through the back door of the shop, the kids are on their way...not just seeing, but IMMERSING themselves in every facet of garden life, bugs to blooms, ground to sky.

I know how much kids love living organisms. Our first priority was to create a special haven for all of the myriad garden critters. Water for frogs, hide-outs for toads, bat houses and bird houses, a worm bed for "The Girls," bird baths, butterfly shelter houses, butterfly feeders, pheromones to attract beneficial insects, baskets of nesting materials for the birds...the list is endless.

We decided to make our garden totally handicapped accessible. We chose decomposed granite for the pathways, (we have lots of paths for the kids to run through) and widened all the paths so that wheelchairs and walkers would have easy maneuvering. We raised the beds a bit so that things could be easily touched, and to further facilitate sensory participation we planned a series of mini gardens in large terra cotta planters.

Inspired by Susan Betz an herbalist in Michigan and Anna Sonmore of the Children's Museum in Minneapolis, I planted a pot for each of the five senses. The pots are labeled, "Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight and Sound." The "touch" pot contains aloe vera, fringed wormwood, woolly lamb's ear and a variety of wonderfully textured sedums. "Taste" features chocolate mint, salad burnet, sorrel and other piquant plants. "Smell" hosts peppermint, prostrate rue, lemon verbena and a parade of fragrant herbs. The "sight" pot constantly changes as scores of flowers flaunt their colors in quick succession. "Sound" is always amusing. Adults just don't seem to get it...I often see them shaking stalks of salvia or agastache expecting to hear bells or whistles. Kids seem to know that if they just sit quietly, eyes closed, they will hear the comings and goings of fuzzy, rumbling bumblebees, the hummingbird's whirring wings, the nearly imperceptible, papery rustling of butterflies, or the light snap of a jumping grasshopper.

Other large pots or barrels feature curious plants such as the much loved, Harry Lauder's walking stick tree, broom corn, pumpkins, bayberry, mini sunflowers, gourds, walking stick cabbage, a rainbow of potatoes, mini Seneca Indian corn, a giant saucer of thymes for a sundial garden, chicken wire animal topiaries covered with polyanthum jasmine. You name it; I've tried it in the containers. They give me the versatility and portability I need in such a small space, and they are at the right height for wheelchair touching.

Hide-outs and secret places are a necessity for kids. Just like us, they need a place where they can go and be themselves without anyone looking over their shoulders.

I use various methods to form hide-outs. The tried and true tepee is a sure winner. The tepee can be planted with gourds, scarlet runner beans and mini pumpkins. One trialed at my friend Agatha Youngblood's garden is a magical moon tepee, draped in moon vines, carpeted in chamomile and banked with white nicotiana and petunias. A perfect place to spend an evening watching bats and giant, nectar feeding moths.

My sunflower house provides a secret place for the kids in my garden. Redwood 2" x 2"posts form the framework, and the walls are wide mesh wire. The walls are thickly planted with giant sunflowers, under planted with erodium, dianthus, and a changing carpet of charming, colorful "smalls." The house walls and roof are planted with golden hops, runner beans, clock vine, mini gourds and heavenly blue morning glories. The plants were all chosen because they are "personality plants" and fulfill a variety of functions, fun to food.

The caterpillar cave is an environmental concept I designed for my book HOLLYHOCK DAYS. I wanted kids to be totally surrounded by butterflies, caterpillars and chrysalises. My husband and I constructed a tunnel out of posts, used a beam across the top and lashed it all together. I then planted larval host plants and butterfly plants all around the shelter (leaving room for an entry door). It is possible to sit or lie in the cave and become a part of some of nature's most magical mysteries.

Water is a MUST in a children's garden. I provide multiple water elements. How can I do this in such a small space? Easily. Bird baths are one solution. They can be the store bought kind or something as simple as a large saucer filled with water. Leave watering cans out for the kids to use, and place some buckets of water in various spots. I wanted a pond, but couldn't afford the construction and worried about safety. I opted for a huge, over-sized, half wine barrel. I filled it with mosquito fish and fascinating plants, everything from floating four-leaf clovers to dwarf papyrus, water iris, cannas, striped rush, and fairy moss. The incredible thing is that my water barrel pond is totally self sufficient and maintains a healthy water ecosystem. I have to credit naturalist Konrad Lorenz for the inspiration his book KING SOLOMON'S RING provided.

My raised beds play host to a seasonal procession of plants for kids. Last year I grew spaghetti squash, giant pumpkins, strawberry popcorn, Indian corn, artichokes, and pink panda strawberries. This year my beds are devoted to the garden's winged visitors. One bed is full of beneficial bug host plants. Another is a mix of perennials to entice and feed butterflies.

Hummingbirds are the star of the third, with a thick mini field of their favorite floriferous foods. I couldn't bear to uproot the artichokes in bed #4. Their huge thistle blooms are a favorite of the butterflies and bumblebees, and their unopened blooms are one of my favorite foods. The pink panda strawberries in bed #4 are the domain of the kids. They remain nestled under the artichoke's leafy umbrellas and are so tasty they seldom make it to maturity (the kids head right for the fraises des bois, pink pandas and blackberries).

The circular bed in the center of the garden sports a giant birdhouse and a chicken wire topiary of my son Noah wearing one of his favorite caps. Surrounding Noah are small rosemary topiaries of chickens, ducks and geese. Noah loves cosmos, (as do the butterflies and later the goldfinches), so I always seed out different varieties around his green feet.

My "miracle place" is small, but it teaches an important lesson to the thousands of parents who visit. There is always room for a pot of flowers for the butterflies. There is always room for at least a saucer of water for the birds. Miracles can happen in small spots, magic can be wrought with seeds and water and love.

Children need to experience and enjoy the simplest pleasures life can provide, and we, as parents, educators, gardeners and lovers of life, must be the ones to nurture both gardens and children.

Copyright 1996, Sharon Lovejoy