IN THIS ISSUE: Creating a Special Garden for Children or Pets The Heart of the Garden
 In Wine There is Truth Readers Q & A

In a follow up from our last issue of In Leaf, I’d like to recall the filming of my backyard for Kathy Renwald’s “Gardener’s Journal” on HGTV. The occasion created a significant amount of interest from my neighbours and our local newspaper. Kathy’s crew spent the entire day, from 8:30 to 5:30, setting up, filming and taking down – all for an 8 minute television segment! They even brought along tracking for the camera to glide through the garden. You just can’t imagine the effort the crew made to capture every garden detail. It was a great experience for me, thanks to the professionalism of Kathy and her team. This episode is part of next season’s series of new programs that will begin to air in March 2003.

Before I preview our upcoming events, I’d like to highlight our garden tour from August. I think that this may just be the finest event The Copper Leaf has presented. The tour was a sell-out with 45 enthusiastic participants, David Tarrant was an exceptional host, the weather was perfect, the gardens were stunning and lunch at Inn on the Twenty was exquisite. I look forward to another great garden tour like this one in the future.

November 30th marks Christmas in Jordan Village – one of the most beautiful times to visit Main Street with Father Christmas and the warmth of a candle-light walk. Our 2002 calendar ends with the Festive Holiday Door Swag workshop on December 7th, conducted by floral designer Carol Clarke.

Fall is grape and wine time in Niagara and this issue touches on this harvest theme with Emily’s In Store feature and our Grow & Tell segment. Anne’s Gardening Matters column offers design tips for child and pet friendly gardens and you’ll stroll through an intimate landscape in Darren’s edition of Ground Work.

Don’t forget to plant your bulbs and enjoy the garden over the coming weeks – it won’t be long before we’ll be covered with winter’s blanket.

Michael Schmahl
Editor-In-Leaf

Michael Schmahl
Editor-In-Leaf

Sharing a love of gardening with young ones is a very rewarding activity that has the potential to induce a future generation of garden-lovers. Encouraging children to develop an appreciation for gardening, as a pastime requires gentle persuasion with lots of freewheeling time for outdoor exploration. Searching for earthworms, butterflies, or beetles could be a fun and impromptu break from harvesting tomatoes and beans in the vegetable garden. Every garden is full of wonderful things to capture the interest of young minds. Major fun could be had while watching a snail slowly crawl across a hosta leaf, or feeling a ripe impatiens seedpod fire its seeds when lightly squeezed, or moving the pliable flowers of the obedient plant into funny new positions. A lot can be gained if children are encouraged to investigate the beauty and complexity of plants.

Cultivating a love of gardening can also be encouraged while getting children to help with the daily plant maintenance in the garden during the fall. To be successful with this activity, tools that fit a child’s height and hands must be obtained. Giving children their own set of tools is essential to make the digging, cultivating, or raking tasks as easy as possible. Struggling with tools that are too large or heavy for smaller people is an unfair challenge right from the start. Besides a child-size trowel, a cultivator, rake and hoe will make them feel like
their help is really important. With appropriate tools, children can garden just like mom and dad or grandma and grandpa.

Water in the garden provides endless fascination for children and adults alike. A water garden is a great place for watching Koi, goldfish,
tadpoles or frogs swimming or eating mosquito larvae. It is also a place to see a water lily bud grow plumper each day and finally open to reveal layers of bold-coloured petals. The attraction of water and the ground level positioning of most ponds make this type of garden easily accessible for children of all ages. For successful water lily and submerged plant growth, water gardens require at least 30 cm (1 foot) in water depth. Bog or marsh plants can be grown in much shallower conditions. Often a stone edge is created around the perimeter to cover the pool liner. Children perched on the edge of the pond are in a potentially hazardous position that could lead to injury from falling into the pond or even drowning. Adult supervision is essential to protect these young visitors. Creating a drown-proof water feature is an easy way to have the sound and sight of water in the garden without the worries of constant supervision. Using a pebble style of fountain eliminates the possibility of any water depth making a safe water garden. The effect is a bubbling fountain without any open water. The bubbling fountain spills water into a basin filled with pebbles where the water is re-circulated. The pebbles, which can be rounded river stones, are attractive and the water garden is safe for all. Children will be drawn to the water and even have fun playing with the wet pebbles. An alternative to the bubble pool is to raise a water garden high enough so that only older children can reach the water. This type of garden could be created in a large ceramic container or half whiskey barrel. Both of these will raise the water garden at least 60 cm above the ground level thus keeping it out of reach of the youngest (and most at risk) children. Many people do not consider a birdbath to be a threat to children. Any placed at ground level with more than 2.5 cm of water are still a drowning hazard for young children. Use birdbaths that are on a pedestal and keep them out of the reach of very young children.

Safety is a prime concern when children are involved in outdoor gardening activities. Depending on the age of children, options
might include screening a deck, fencing a pool or yard, and providing adult supervision for swing sets or “jungle gyms”. Children or pets
that have a tendency to put plant leaves, stems, flowers or fruit into their mouths should be kept away from all poisonous plants. A more permanent solution is to remove all hazardous plants from the garden. These include those that cause skin irritation or inhalation allergies too. Some of the most poisonous plants can frequently be found in neighbourhood gardens. These include perennials such as foxglove, lupines, St John’s wort, valerian, sweet pea, sneezeweed, monkshood, and delphinium. Annuals such as castor beans (with seeds that are very poisonous!!), angel’s trumpet, and morning glory are also hazardous. Bulbs such as colchicum are poisonous if eaten. Tropical plants such as oleander, philodendron and dieffenbachia should be re-considered. Vegetables such as the leaves of rhubarb and potatoes are poisonous. Trees that should be considered potential dangers are red maple, red oak, black oak, black locust, black cherry, and horse chestnuts. Shrubs such as hydrangea, Japanese yew, choke cherry, rhododendron, and daphne
could be harmful if swallowed. Common Ontario weeds are not without their dangers too. Those such as the weedy pigweeds, poison ivy, wild mustard, groundsel, climbing nightshade, ground ivy, jimsonweed, stinkweed, and several milkweeds should be kept away from young children. Poisonous fruit and leaves or saps that causes dermatitis are some of the hazards. Wildflowers such as blue flag, pokeweed, and may-apple have fruit, leaves or rootstocks that are dangerous. Proper identification and removal, supervision or education is crucial in providing a safe garden environment for children. Watch for slug bait as well. Older formulations have Metaldehyde and Methiocarb that are toxic to some pets (especially dogs who are attracted to it).

Many young children like to play in a sandbox and dig for imaginary treasures. Sand is great for build castles with moats and
pretend drawbridges. A frame of cedar will keep the sand contained and a canvas or wood cover should be used to cover the box when not being used. This will keep cats and raccoons out of the sand when no one is around.

Is there such a thing as a pet-friendly garden? Can dogs and cats, rabbits and guinea pigs all co-exist in a garden without total
destruction or dividing it into one section for pets and the rest to be used as human space? It is possible to create a garden that all can
enjoy. With some modifications and considerations to everyone’s needs, it can be done. The vegetable garden is the exception. Most pets are not so trained that they can freely roaming through this type of garden without doing any damage. Pet rabbits and
geese are too fond of munching through a vegetable garden looking for lettuce, so either a good fence or constant human supervision is
necessary. Other pets require some supervision in a vegetable garden too. For human health reasons, don’t let dogs and cats relieve
themselves near food crops.

Consistent training including behaviour modification will keep a dog from digging in the garden. The easiest way to get pets to
behave in the garden is to play with them and keep them occupied with something other than digging up your prize plants. If they insist,
provide a sand box just for their use. Keep blood meal and bone meal (and other appealing and smelly fertilizers) well buried so that dogs won’t dig it up and roll in it. Good fences are essential for successful ventures in the garden. A fence can keep predators or other
neighbourhood pets out and your companions safely inside the garden.

Shade and shelter are essential for any outdoor pets in the garden. Keep perennials to a minimum if pets are not heeding their
training. Shrubs and small trees can provide shade and security for pets while they enjoy the outdoors.

Ponds can be quite compatible for most pets. A pond is often used as a large drinking fountain for dogs. Watch for cats, herons and raccoons around ponds with fish. They may be looking for a free meal.

Gardens can easily become exciting and interesting adventures for children and pets to explore with just a little encouragement.

Anne Marie Van Nest is a graduate of the Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture, where today she is also an instructor.
Anne is a member of the Garden Writers Association of America and the garden columnist for The St. Catharines Standard.

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