Sometimes the ‘dream garden’ for you may not be as child friendly as you would like it to be. Outdoor games and rough and tumble aren’t exactly a delicate flowers’ dream. But you can definitely make a dream garden that both you AND the kids will love! Bonus points for encouraging them to get outdoors and active. No matter the size of your garden, the addition of plants and a little hedging can give you exactly what you need from the space!
Kids like to see their gardens as a fun, messy adventure playground. You can recreate the garden maze effect to your benefit here! You’ll often see the Yew in gardens and hedges used as a ‘topiary’ plant. But it makes a great simple hedge for zoning as well. If you have enough space you can have different zones to create areas in your garden for different tastes! Set up a teepee camping area, a ‘sports’ zone (so balls don’t end up flying everywhere!), or even an outdoor picnic space. Yew hedging lets your garden take on different personalities without feeling too messy.
Give the kids a chance! Why not let the kids design their own small area of your garden. You can separate out areas with small shrubs to give them their own ‘gardens’ to grow. Let their creativity run wild. Planting also encourages patience and responsibility (both for watering and not trampling your own plants!) Planning the general garden area with your kids is a great way to create a space that they want to be involved in. Maybe they want a den to read in, or somewhere they can sit with you to do activities!
Encourage the wildlife! Building an insect hotel is a great way to encourage wildlife in the garden (and a really fun crafty activity for a rainy summer or autumn day). The RSPB website has a good guide, or check out Pinterest for some other examples! Certain types of plants and hedges will also encourage wildlife like butterflies, birds and bees into your garden too. Privet, Alder Common and Dogwood Common are all supremely popular with various forms of wildlife throughout the year and can add interest even during the winter period.
Get some colour in there. This doesn’t have to be a high-maintenance heavy cost exercise. If you don’t want to plan out a full field of wildflowers then smaller shrub and flower borders are great for busy mums and dads! Aster is a low growing perennial plant that will provide colour for years and azaleas are always popular.
Involving your kids at the planning and planting phases really helps them to feel like the garden is their world too, so you can enjoy your dream garden together! Hopes Grove Nursery have a huge range of hedging plants available to give your dream garden that magic green touch. Why not start today?
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