A ll plants are not created equal in the eyes of children. Try plants that come in surprising colors, such as purple carrots, striped beets, rainbow chard, and 'Easter egg' radishes. Textured plants are irresistible. If your conditions are right for them, include the fuzzy woolly thyme and lambs' ears, the prickly coneflower and strawflowers, and the delicate maidenhair fern and columbine.
Fragrant plants transport the imagination.
If you grow them now, your child will always remember the scents of heliotrope, mignonette, roses, peonies, and lilacs. If you show them which plants to rub between their fingers, they'll never forget lavender, pineapple mint, lemon balm, rosemary, basil, and scented geraniums. Butterflies are beloved in the garden. Everyone says plant monarda, butterfly weed, and salvia to attract them. Night bloomers fill summer evenings with magic.