Green thumb know-how for the young and the young-at-heart: "Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots" by Sharon Lovejoy is a great addition to any garden library.
If you are looking for a gardening book that will appeal to kids, look no further than Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots: Gardening Together With Children by Sharon Lovejoy. It's a winner. The book is designed for children in the 9 to 12 age group but don't take that to heart because you really don't even need kids to delight in this one. The author knows how to appeal to the child in all of us. Her illustrations are soft and whimsical watercolors. Her advice is practical and straightforward. And her ideas are just plain fun. If you happen to have a kid or two around to share the delight, all the better, but that part is optional.
Best Plants for Kids
The book begins with a chapter on the top 20 recommended plants for children to grow while developing basic gardening skills. Leading the pack - no surprise here - is the pumpkin, with its infinite variety of shapes, colors and horticultural oddities. Lovejoy comes up with a cornucopia of pumpkin craft ideas - from jewelry to household implements to toys and even, amazingly, to clothing. There are a few unusual plants on the list but Lovejoy provides extensive source information. For the most part, though, the listed plants are common, easy-to-grow and widely available - things like sunflowers, mimosas, hollyhocks, and corn (plant a maze of maize, Lovejoy suggests) with growing tips and wonderful suggestions for projects that are fun, creative, and unexpectedly delightful no matter how old you are.
Also included is a collection of Theme Gardens - and these are fantastic:
- The Pizza Patch: A circle of wedge-shaped plots filled with pizza toppings. Sprinkled randomly through the slices are little white flowers playing, quite convincingly, the role of mozzarella cheese.
- Sunflower House: An easy-to-grow secret hideaway for those reclusive five-year-olds in the family.
- Buckets, Boxes & Boots: Container gardens made from the mundane and the unexpected.
- Moon Garden: A special place designed to attract creatures of the night.
- The Flowery Maze: Getting lost in flowery beauty.
- A Garden Of Giants: A big hit with the younger set - especially the tunnel part.
- Mother Nature's Medicine Chest: A pharmacopoeia of home-grown lotions, potions, and luscious greenery.
- Zuni Waffle Garden: Gardens consisting of small squares with a raised dirt perimeter to conserve moisture - very waffle-like in appearance. Developed by the Zuni Indians of the Southwest.
Lovejoy has also, over time, created a wonderful and fascinating garden at her home in California. She calls it "Heart's Ease" and she often opens it to the public. It attracts many visitors every year, including lots of children who are drawn to her imaginative and magical garden creations. Lovejoy is a regular contributor to Country Living Gardener magazine and has written several other books including:
- The Little Green Island, winner of the 2005 National Outdoor Book Award in the children's category
- A Blessing of Toads: A Gardener's Guide to Living with Nature
- Trowel and Error: Over 700 Shortcuts, Tips & Remedies for the Gardener, winner of the 2004 Garden Globe Award of Achievement.
- Sunflower Houses: Inspiration from the Garden - A Book for Children and their Grown-Ups. Named a Smithsonian Notable Book
- Hollyhock Days: Garden Adventures for the Young at Heart.
Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots was published by Workman in 1999 but has remained very popular and is still in print. Both hardcover ($24.95) and paperback ($13.95) editions are available.
