In February our hearts turn to thoughts of love. With Valentine's Day near, a Sweet Heart Garden theme could be a fun garden for your child! So many plants have names that remind us of love or those sweet treats we like to share with friends and loved ones. Kids enjoy the Valentine's Day theme of love and hearts, so use your imagination and have some fun with this theme. It doesn't have to be just a Valentine's Day theme. Love and sweets make for happiness anytime!
To really carry out the spirit of the Sweet Heart Garden, consider planting in a heart-shaped plot, or a ring of smaller heart-shaped plots! You may want to leave a place for having tea parties or play areas in the middle of the ring of hearts. Handmade heart-shaped step stones (using the aluminum foil heart cake pans) would be a cute addition as well. Another idea could be heart-shaped plywood cut-outs on wooden stakes used as plant markers. You could paint them the colors of candy hearts and write the plant names on them. I'm sure you can think of more ways to carry the theme, so start thinking about plants with names related to love, candy or such. Then indulge yourself and your child in a Sweet Heart Garden (with very few calories as these plants are to be seen, not eaten!). Most of all, have fun! Children expect to have fun in the garden and so should you!Once you have decided on your plots, you can think about flowers. Do you want annuals or perennials? Maybe some of both? First, here are some annuals with yummy-sounding or love-related names. From my Select Seeds catalog, I found the following: Signet Marigold 'Lemon Gem', Sweet Pea 'Cupid', Love in a Puff, Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate, Love-Lies-Bleeding, and Nasturtium 'Moonlight'. That's a good start! Burpee offers
Abutilon 'Summer Sherbert Mix', Celosia 'Wine Sparkler', Four O'Clocks 'High Tea Mix', Impatiens 'Summer Romance', Marigold 'French Vanilla' and 'Sugar and Spice Mix', Morning Glory 'Milky Way' (poisonous, not for small children), Phlox 'Starry Eyes, Sunflowers 'Go Bananas' and 'Lemon Éclair', Zinnia 'Candy Cane' and 'Cherry Vanilla', all topped off with Zinnia 'Burpeeana Giants ' for after the "sweets" have been consumed.
Shepherd Seeds offers Love-In-A-Mist, Night Phlox 'Midnight Candy', Nasturtium 'Butter Cream' and 'Creamsicle', Painted Tongue 'Royale Chocolate', and Sweet Pea 'Little Sweetheart'.
Harris Seeds offers: Sunflower 'Valentine' and Viola 'Sorbet Mix' but Pine Tree Garden Seeds has Candytuft and Sunflower 'Vanilla Ice'. Thompson and Morgan has a good selection with Snap Dragon 'Peaches and Cream', Morning Glory Imperilalis 'Chocolate' (poisonous, not for small children), Marigold 'Honeycomb', Nasturtium 'Peach Melba' and 'Strawberries and Cream', Petunia 'Marshmallow', Moss Rose 'Sundial Peppermint', Verbena 'Peaches and Cream' and 'Raspberry Crush', and Zinnia 'Peppermint Stick'. There is quite a selection of annuals available that fits our theme!
