I am interested in information about gardening with children and gardens designed for children. Can you recommend some relevant web sites and articles?
Below are some useful web sites about children’s gardens. They include actual children’s garden web sites which may have garden maps or plans as well as information about how the garden was designed, and horticulture sites with information about gardening with children.
Magnuson Park Children’s Garden
The Helen & Peter Bing Children’s Garden
Children’s Garden at the Morton Arboretum
The Midway Plaisance Children’s Garden
Each year, the National Children & Youth Garden Symposium, takes place at varying locations.
You may wish to visit the Miller Library and search the Garden Literature Index, which has an article about past years’ symposia (see abstract here: 2006 Youth Garden Symposium. Robbins, Heather American Gardener; Sep/Oct2006, Vol. 85 Issue 5, p12-15
The article presents the highlights of the 2006 annual American Horticultural Society’s National Children & Youth Garden Symposium held in Saint Louis, Missouri. It cites the implications of the high number of participants in the event. The issues discussed at the educational sessions in the symposium include building children’s gardens and community gardening. Attendees were given the opportunity to explore the Missouri Botanical Garden, the event’s host garden.)
Below is just a sampling of other articles from the “children’s gardens” search results:
1. Gardening on the curriculum? Why not? By: West, Cleve. Garden, Jan2007, Vol. 132 Issue 1, p13-13, 1/2p; (AN 23649207)
2. Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. By: Day, Susan. Birds & Blooms, Oct/Nov2006, Vol. 12 Issue 5, p54-55, 2p, 1 map, 4c; (AN 22575160)
3. SCAPE’S GARDEN OF DISCOVERY. HD: Hospital Development, Mar2006, Vol. 37 Issue 3, p6-6, 1/4p; (AN 20303088)
4. The Best Backyard In The World. By: McGuire, Leslie. Landscape Architect & Specifier News, Mar2006, Vol. 22 Issue 3, p58-65, 8p, 1 map, 8c; (AN 20532564)
5. THE ACTIVITY MATRIX. Landscape Architect & Specifier News, Mar2006, Vol. 22 Issue 3, p60-63, 4p, 8c; (AN 20532565)
6. Children’s Garden Consultants: A New Model of Engaging Youth to Inform Garden Design and Programming. By: Lekies, Kristi S.; Eames-Sheavly, Marcia; Wong, Kimberly J.; Ceccarini, Anne. HortTechnology, Jan-Mar2006, Vol. 16 Issue 1, p139-142, 4p, 2 charts; (AN 20620955)
7. Duke Garden. By: Stewart, Joann. Daylily Journal, Winter2005, Vol. 60 Issue 4, p414-415, 2p, 4c; (AN 19479979)
8. Cultivating gardeners. By: Benson, Sally D.. American Nurseryman, 9/1/2005, Vol. 202 Issue 5, p4-4, 2/3p; (AN 18031480)
9. Fall for Fun: New Children’s Garden. By: Sherman, Marilyn. Chicagoland Gardening, Sep/Oct2005, Vol. 11 Issue 5, p78-79, 2p; (AN 18096223)
10. Kid’s paradise. By: Patrick, John. Gardening Australia, Apr2005, p22-26, 5p, 9c; (AN 16593169)
There are also articles available in landscape architecture and urban planning publications which we do not have in our library, but which you might find at the University of Washington Libraries. I searched the Avery Index to Periodicals and came up with quite a few potentially useful results. Here are some examples:
Child’s play: the Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden is a new component of the very successful observatory precinct at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne [Australia] / Bruce Echberg. :photos., site plans. Landscape architecture Australia 2006 Nov., n.112, p. 49-52, ISSN 1833-4814.
Footprints of school gardens in Sweden / Petter kerblom. photos., drawings, plans, site plans. Garden history 2004 Winter, v.32, n.2, p.[229]-247, ISSN 0307-1243.
We also have many books available here at the Miller Library on gardens for children. Our annotated booklist (154 pages)may be of interest.