Of Butterfly Gardens and Sensory Gardens

Butterfly Garden

Gardening is a wonderful way to connect with the natural world around us. The chance to teach our children where their food comes from, the process of life forming from a simple little seed.  

In my yard we have traditional vegetable gardens, flower gardens as well as butterfly gardens and sensory gardens.

Living Fort

As the mother of a 4 year old son on the spectrum, who loves to garden, watching wildlife and enjoying the splendors of the natural world, I needed to provide these areas of expression and connection for him. William has participated with my husband and I in every step of the process.  From planting the seeds inside our greenhouse and helping to water them, then planting the plants outside and weeding.    

A wonderful way to have a child enjoy the natural world is through the creation of a living fort.  We built ours out of stick and snap peas.  Once the peas grow and cover the structure, we will have a shady place to hide and nibble on the fresh peas.  

Encouraging children to participate in the planting process, instills enjoyment and ownership within them.  Outside of our large vegetable garden area, William planted spinach, kale and carrots.  He helps me weed the mini garden and water them too.  We included strawberries, grapes and raspberries in our yard as well.  Some are planted in pots on the deck near parts of the sensory garden. 

A sensory garden is just an area that a person experiences stimuli to a variety of senses.  In our sensory garden we utilize, colored rocks for teaching, wind-chimes for sounds, pinwheels for colors, and water features.  Some areas are relaxing, like the living fort, other areas are interactive and function as a learning tool.  

The focus on senses spreads into the butterfly garden.  In this area, we utilized native plants including milkweed to attract butterflies.  local rocks serve as resting spots and places that water can sit. We placed a bench nearby for William to sit and watch and observe the butterflies.   

I am finding more and more that not only does our son enjoy working and playing in the gardens, it becomes a place of wonder where we can view the native wildlife.  I marvel at the many species of birds that visit to eat the snails from the plants.  We have been visited my toads, skunks, rabbits, groundhogs and raccoon's.   

I greatly look forward to documenting and sharing the visitors and plant life growing in our garden.

I had forgotten how relaxing gardening and working with my hands can be.    

I am waiting for the day that William can harvest some fresh vegetables.  I still remember from my childhood eating green beans straight from the garden..... ooh that taste, so fresh.   That is something special I want to share with my son.