Brookside Children's Garden

The Brookside Children's Garden is part of the Wheaton regional park in Maryland.  Probably the most interesting feature of the garden, is the tree house pictured above.  It is constructed of recycled material.  Kids can climb the stairs, then play with wooden blocks or construct things with other natural materials.
The garden also features a gnome hut, where kids can follow stepping stones to a tea party, and a water garden, where kids can observe frogs and other assorted water creatures.

The Brookside Chidren's Garden is open daily from 10 AM to 5 PM. Admission is free.

United States Botanical Gardens

Located in Washington DC, the United States Botanical Gardens is one of the oldest botanic gardens in North America. Established in  1850, it has grown to house about 26,000 plants, including medicinal plants, orchids, and cacti.

The Conservatory, built in 1933, houses a jungle, desert, and primeval paradise.

Outdoors, the National Garden features a variety of mid-Atlantic plants.


The gardens are open 10-5 daily, including weekends and holidays.  Admission is free.

How to Get the Most From a Home Vegetable Garden

It's always nice to go to your back yard and pick a tomato fresh off the vine. They are so much better than most store-bought ones. Here are some tips to make growing your own vegetables in whatever space you have.


1. Grow What You Love. Make a list of what you truly love to eat, and plant accordingly. What good is it if you grow cabbages and you don't like them?  


2. Grow for Flavor. Think about veggies that don't hold up well in grocery stores. Tomatoes and corn are good examples. These vegetables seem to lose their flavor a few hours after picking.


3. Grow Crops With Bountiful Harvests.   Find plants that give all season-long. Tomatoes, beans, peas, and squash bear all summer long.


4. Grow Crops in Pots.  If you don't have much land to work with, a lot of vegetables can be grown in pots. Just make sure the pots they are planted in allow ample room for growth.


5. Use Succession Planting. Crops that are once-and-done kind of veggies can be planted numerous times within the season. When one is done, start another. Leaf lettuces are a good example of this.


6. Grow Vertically. Use trellises and tripods for vine crops. It saves space, prevents the vegetables from rotting on the ground, and even looks pretty in your garden. Cucumbers, pole beans, and winter squash are good examples of veggies that can be grown this way.


7. Mix Edibles With Ornamentals. Vegetables don't have to be combined to a garden of their own. They can look pretty with other flowers. A tomato plant on a tripod can look really nice mixed with red zinnias.

Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

The Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, located in Brooklyn, New York, has been helping children learn all about growing flowers, vegetables, and herbs since 1914.  Kids ages 2-7 can plant their own crops in late spring and then come back to harvest them in the fall.



 The Discovery Garden allows kids to touch and smell plants and experience different habitats;  woodland, meadow, farm, and wetland.  Kids can also dig up worms at the Nature Center. And what kids doesn't like digging up worms?

The gardens are open year round.  Admission for adults is $10.00.  Children under 12 are free.                                                           

Canadian Butchart Gardens

The Butchart Gardens, located near Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on Vancouver Island, contains 55 acres of simply gorgeous floral gardens.

In 1907, garden designer, Isaburo Kishida, came to Victoria to build a tea garden for Esquimalt Gorge Park.  A prominent citizen of the area, Jennie Butchart, saw the garden and commissioned Kishida to create Japanese gardens for her estate.  In 1909, the sunken garden was created, followed by a rose garden and Italian garden. 




Ownership of the gardens remains within the Butchart family, but they are open to the public. The gardens are open every day from 9AM to 4 PM, except for Christmas, where the gardens open at 1:00 PM.  Admission prices range from $3.00 for children, to $29.00 for adults, depending on the season you visit.

How to Naturalize Bulbs in a Lawn

Isn't it pretty to see spring flowers come up after months of snow and cold weather?  You can add to the spring color by naturalizing bulbs into your lawn.  Here's how you do it: 

1. Figure out where you would like to see your flowers come up.  Usually they look best under deciduous trees or at the edge of lawns.

2. Decide what flowers you want to use.  Small bulbs, like crocuses, naturalize best in lawns.  Grape hyacinths also work well.  Everyone likes daffodils, but unless you  don't want to cut your grass for a long time and look at yellowing leaves, they're probably not the best option.  Save them for wooded areas, or places where grass doesn't grow.

 3.  Once you've figured out where, and what kind of bulbs you're going to use, grab a handful of bulbs and toss them onto your lawn.  This should be done in early fall.  Plant them where they land for a natural look.  Be sure to leave a few inches between them to allow for naturalizing.

4.  Cut out a flap of grass and peel back.  Plant the bulb about four times as deep as the bulb is wide.  Plant the pointed side up.  Then refill with the soil.

5.  Place the grass back and water well.  The grass will be fine in the spring, and the plants will come right through it.

 6. Don't mow the lawn until the plants finish flowering and their leaves shrivel up and turn yellow.

Highfield Discovery Garden at Glenwood Gardens Park

The Highfield Discovery Garden at Glenwood Gardens Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, was one of my kids' favorite places to visit in the summer. It features a 25-foot tall Discovery tree, which kids can climb and discover all kinds of hidden animals and treasures.  My personal favorite is Grandma's Scent garden which contains many fragrant plants and herbs.  There's also a Wizard's Garden, a Vegetable Garden, a Trolly Garden (sure to be a hit for train lovers), a frog pond (my son's favorite), and a Fairy Garden (my daughter's favorite).   The garden is open from May 1 to August 31.  Admission is $4 for adults and $3 for children. 





The Discovery Tree is the centerpiece of the gardens.



This inviting playhouse is located in Grandma's Scent Garden.  There's a nice wooden swing where you can relax and take in the beauty of the gardens next to the playhouse.