GARDEN NOTES
Designing gardens with kids and pets in mind By Lisa Cullen
It all starts with a plan
You already know what your kids like to do, so incorporate this into the design. Of course, the size of your property does have some bearing on what’s possible, but even small gardens can become kid-friendly spaces. It can be as simple as a spot amid the trees turned into a secret hiding place or creating a meandering mulch pathway through the garden where they can run through the garden with wild abandon. Mulch paths are better for kids because a deeply mulched path is soft, so they won’t hurt themselves when they inevitably take a tumble. There could be more obvious 42
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constructed elements, such as a swing or a treehouse, but it doesn’t have to be. If there’s room and the kids play soccer or other sports, a lawn could be on the agenda. If the family likes golf, there could be a pitch-and-putt green. We installed a zip line in one backyard and hid the mounting platforms within a cluster of trees. Once we even designed a garden for a woman whose granddaughter loved to pretend she was in a steeplechase (no real horse involved) so we created a course complete with logs to jump over and other fun stuff. Then there was the family who liked to play bocce ball. However, a standard court wasn’t feasible, so we created a “cross-country” bocce ball court that meandered through the entire back yard, complete with banked turns. It was lined with plants that can withstand the abuse of repeated bocce balls, and the entire family plays bocce out there every night. Have some fun and get creative. Anything goes. We have lots more examples; if you need inspiration, email me!
Plants? Choose edible and non-toxic
If your children are very young, they’re likely to put leaves and flowers in their mouths, so you’d better stay away from toxic plants. I like to use soft, edible plants when a family has small children. If you must have a rose garden, place it away from where the kids play. In one case I planted an entire garden full of stuff the kids could eat: culinary herbs, blueberries, passion fruit, alpine strawberries, and fruit trees. This was a garden the kids could munch their way through.
Use plants that can take abuse
If you have dogs and kids, they may run, trample, dig, and eat the plants in your garden. Fortunately, there are lots of plants that can take the abuse and still thrive in Santa Barbara. Mexican sage, Falkia, Nepeta, Teucrium, lavender, rosemary, Santa Barbara daisy, Shasta daisy, boxwood, Pittosporum tobira, geraniums, mint, potato vine, and Mexican marigold are sturdy and beautiful. W W W. F O O D – H O M E . C O M
Holly Lepere
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s it possible for a garden to be beautiful and kid- and dog-friendly? Or are gardens, kids, and dogs mutually exclusive? Images of flying soccer balls, crushed plants, and dog bones buried under prize roses come to mind. Don’t stress over your trampled topiary; instead design a garden that includes everyone. With some careful planning, a few compromises, and reasonable expectations, it can be done.
