Springtime brings new adventures for both young and old and is a great time to teach children about flowers and plants. Gardening helps give children responsibility to take care of their flowers.
Debby Hameluck, owner of Arbutus for 11 years, suggests marigolds and petunias for the budding gardener. She says that marigolds are said to help resist bugs on other plants and petunias are easy to maintain.
Hameluck thinks that getting children in the dirt working on flowers is educational for the children.
“It gets the kids outside and they get good fresh air. It’s a workout for them. It gives them a sense of accomplishment for them when they see it grow over the season. It gives them a sense that something needs their help and it is theirs to take care of,” said Hameluck.
“If they grow vegetables then they get to eat them when they are ready. It helps to show them where food comes from.”
Jody Fowler, co-owner of PJ’s Plantation, suggests that bigger seeds are easier for kids to handle with little hands including sunflower seeds. She says there are many varieties of sunflowers.
“If going from seed they get to see how it starts, from seed to plant, they get to see the whole life cycle,” said Fowler.
Fowler suggests a few other easy flowers for kids: the Lantana has double incentive for kids it is a very pretty flower and attracts butterflies and the Coleus changes colour with the amount of sun it gets.
“With kids it’s a lot of fun because they are always discovering. I love to teach kids about gardening and it’s always so much fun,” said Fowler.