thanks

Have fun Cheers AMS

Maybe plan on making a giant vegetable soup with some of the harvest when school starts in the fall (book to read: Stone Soup).

Do a rainbow garden--with a cloud of white flowers at one end and a cauldron of gold flowers at the other end. Use annual mixes for the arcs--red, pink, white impatiens; gold, yellow, orange pansies; blue, purple, lavender petunias. Use plastic edging between the arcs.

A maze of any sort.. I can hear the giggles already!

Also, my kids love anything larger than them. How about a secret corner with tall grasses or bamboo in which to hide?

Butterfly Bushes.. a big hit in my children's garden.

I also 'planted' large apple tree branches/trunks to represent each one of my children. I decorated them with salvaged items.. bedsprings for hair, circut breaker eyes.. they get fresh items each spring, such as; bandana's around their necks, straw hats. Rustic & wimsical.

The 'Apple Trunk Children' flank the sides of a honeysuckle covered pergola they must walk through to enter their garden. There is a sign that is handpainted & hangs down from the entrance which reads "Childrens Garden" (with the 's' backwards, of course!) There is more than one entrance/exit (including a secret one) and garden rooms in their private garden.. makes the garden more fun to explore.

They have their own spaces to grow anything they want.. some popular items are veggies, strawberries, cutting flowers, sunflowers. They have several fruit trees in a small 'orchard' behind the playhouse. Any plant with texture, unusual markings, LARGE leaves. There is a Beauty Bush in the center because it has the most peculiar purple berries in the fall. Large stalks of Ruhbarb. Yucca. Red Hot Pokers. Fragrant flowers or shrubs (Lilac, Mock Orange). Herbs. It's a good opportunity to teach what is good to eat, what shouldn't be eaten. They have Trumpet Vine for the hummingbirds & it also houses a birds nest already.. I couldn't have planned that one any better! Curly Willow. Red-Stemmed Dogwood shrub. Lambs Ear. Prickly Pear. Money Plant. Pussy Willows.

I also 'planted' a TALL branch that had fallen from our apple tree (must be hard wood)and cemented it in the ground. (You've got to strip the leaves & prune all the small, flimsy branches) We bought birdhouses and feeders & painted them. I hung them all over the branches, keeping the feeders down low (to refill) and the houses up high (for nesting birds). Every year, we have baby birds and a variety of birds to view at the feeders. (if you can keep the squirrels away)

If adding any furniture or accents.. paint it bright periwinkle, orange or sunshine yellow. Stay away from pastel flowers & go for the impact of bright primary colors. Who cares if it's a mish-mash & embarrasses our color wheel.. the kids will love it!

Hope this helped! :>)

For quicker results, plant a sunflower house - cultivate the edges of a large square, plant seeds, but leave room for a front door!