Jurassic Gardening-When a Fairy Garden just won’t do!
This article is about turning your children into gardeners during the summer holidays.
You’re probably thinking to your self why should you even bother?
Well for one thing it will keep your kids occupied while you work in the garden and let’s face it, nothing ruins your summer gardening experience more than listening to an endless chorus of “I’m bored”.
Get your children unplugged from technology, remove them from the sofa that sits in front of the TV and wrench them away away from their computers, tablets and any other gaming or hand held devices that seem to have a permanent, invisible connection to both their eyeballs and their hands. The lack of technology will improve their posture, provide a learning experience by teaching them about nature and help to provide a connection to the earth while allowing you to spend more quality gardening time with them.
It’s most important to teach children that gardening is not all about mowing lawns or pulling weeds – after all that’s slave labor! Instead get them involved in gardening by using nature to create and spark their imaginations. Fairy Gardens have been all the rage for the past few years however if dinosaur toys are a big hit at your house, I’m thinking a Jurassic Garden might just fit the bill.
Since many of today’s plants were around during the time of dinosaurs, it’s easy to create a dinosaur themed garden. Here’s a few ideas to get you started:
Ferns
Ferns are one of the most ancient plant groups surviving today and were once the primary vegetation covering the earth. Some of the earliest species include the maidenhair ferns, lady ferns and autumn ferns. Here in B.C. there are a variety of ferns that grow in the wild and they could be easily dug up and transplanted for free…..if only the Parks Board would cooperate. Apparently there are fines involved for removing vegetation from crown land so actually buying a 4″ fern for $3-$5 might be a better option…..just saying.
Conifers
During the time when the dinosaurs lived, conifers dominated the landscape. These included redwoods, yews, pines, cypress and the monkey puzzle tree. If space is limited, you could use any of the hundreds of types of dwarf conifers such as pine, spruce, fir, hemlock, and junipers.
Ginkgo Tree
In Jurassic times there were many ginkgo species. Today, there’s just one ginkgo species left but it comes in several different varieties including dwarf, weeping, upright, pyramidal and bush forms, and is available in a variety of foliage colors including variegated, yellow-green, dark green and light green. The leaves turn bright yellow-green in autumn.
Ginkgo Biloba is particularly resistant to insects, fungal, viral and bacterial diseases as well as to ozone and sulfur dioxide pollution, fire and even radioactive radiation (atom bomb WWII). Even serial plant killers will be able to grow this one!
Dinosaurs
No Jurassic Garden would be complete without inhabitants.
Dinosaurs are a must as children love learning to identify the different species, where they lived and what they ate.
Realistic plastic dinosaurs are available at the dollar store or if you’re feeling creative you can create your own out of modeling clay.
Dinosaur Nibbles
Horsetail, the bane of gardeners everywhere, was a main source of food for dinosaurs. If you don’t have some growing in your garden already, I will guarantee you there is a gardener somewhere who would be more than willing to give you some for free! Horsetail can be invasive, so you might want to put it in a pot to help reduce the spread. Oh yeah, and dinosaurs get thirsty too, so if you can make room for a pond all the better!
Fossils
Encourage creativity by having children create their own “fossils” by casting concrete impressions of plant leaves and dinosaur footprints.
Alternatively, you could spark their imaginations by creating an archeological “dig site” for children by burying simulated “fossils” and “bones”. One budget minded Guerrilla Gardener (who shall remain nameless) used some large beef bones that had been cleaned off and buried them as dinosaur evidence, however this could be a problem if you have a food driven Hoover dog like mine. Luckily most dollar stores seem to carry Dinosaur Excavation Kits . Place on the garden’s surface or better yet bury it. After all, when you’re a kid nothing beats digging in the dirt!
Go Exotic and Rare
Cycads, (pronounced si’kads), are sometimes referred to as living plant fossils, because they have remained virtually unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs. These exotic palm tree like plants are generally easy to grow, very hardy and are rarely bothered by pests or diseases. Cycads do grow in BC but be aware that because of the price they are usually only grown in the most epic, larger scale, adult oriented Jurassic Gardens!
Note: Some adult/spouse/client type people might also be inspired/convinced/bribed into helping create/finance/make room for a Jurassic Garden after making them binge watch all 4 Jurassic Park movies.
Do you have a summer children’s birthday to deal with?
Create a Jurassic Garden then…
With a little help from Pinterest make it a Dinosaur Themed Party!
Go ahead, make some memories this summer!