Do what the kids love! Every kid is different and each one has as many different ideas as to what makes a garden as we do. Some enjoy getting their hands dirty while others may just want to look at the flowers and enjoy the show. I think when you give the child free reign to express their gardening ideas it goes a long way toward encouraging them to take up the habit...I mean the hobby! The picture above is of my daughter looking at the bees in the bird bath garden sometime in October. In that bed we have sunflowers, salvia, mums, coneflowers, ornamental grasses, and a butterfly bush. You could call it a butterfly garden if you wanted to since it entertained quite a few of the winged wonders. Gardening brings kids closer to nature which I think in the end is important to us all. A better understanding of our environment can't help but help us.
I had the idea for this post after seeing this picture on our screen saver. Of course I may have just wanted to show how cute my daughter is in pigtails. Can you blame a dad?