Animal Gardens

Dog and Cat Garden - Kids love dogs and cats and they love having plants to represent them in their garden. Here you might accessorize with a resin or concrete garden sculpture cat or dog. If not that, try your hand at making a stuffed topiary to place in this garden. Maybe some dog biscuits made of clay or a plastic mouse might be added. Some plant ideas here might be: Dog-Tooth Lily, Cat Tails, Pussy Willow, Dog Bane (Amsonia Tubernaemontana), Hound's Tongue, Pussy Toes, Catnip, Cat Mint, Redcat (Trifolium repens), or others. More ideas on cat gardens here. And here is an article written by Suite101's expert on cats and gardens, Dusty the Garden Cat, A Gardener's Love Affair with Cats."

Birds and Bugs Garden - Critters which kids like and relate to. To accessorize this garden, you may choose to place plastic or resin bugs about or paint rocks with acrylic paints to look like bugs or birds and hide them throughout the bed. Some plant ideas here might be: Wake Robin (Trillium), Italian Bugloss, Flea Bane, Crane's Bill, Cardinal Flower, Spider Flower (Cleome), Spiderwort, Larkspur, Cockscomb, Hens and Chicks, Swan River Daisy, Butterfly Weed, Tickseed (Coreopsis), Peacock Hybrid Flowering Kale, Melton Bluebird Wahlenbergia, Magpie Columbine, Dwarf Blue Butterfly Delphinium, Red Robin Cherry Tomatoes, and any other plant that mentions a bug or bird name. You could also put in plants that attract bugs and birds, but we'll save that one for another time.

Have fun thinking about animal gardens with your child. Let your imagination lead you beyond these ideas to make it yours.

© Linda Mazar

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic