As gardeners, we are intricately involved with growing things and part of that involves raising up the next generation. Not only are many of us parents, but more and more of us are grandparents as well. Because of that, our gardens have the potential to greatly impact children.
When I was a little girl, my parents took our family to the Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. I remember the surprise I felt wandering down those garden paths and suddenly coming upon a huge statue. It was fun because there was statue after statue to discover and we couldn't believe what each bend in the path revealed. I never forgot the thrill of discovery I felt that day. I'm sure my love of garden statues was born there.
Our home gardens can't compete with such a display place but they don't have to. Truth be told, on our way to the local swimming pool, we often took a short cut through a cemetery. There were some wonderful statues there as well. Even though they were marking someone's grave, they fascinated us.
Such wonderment is common with children. When they find a unique statue where they didn't expect it, they not only become attached to it, but they want to visit it again and again. My two-year-old grandson has discovered frogs and loves to look for them. When cold weather forced them to hide for the winter, he kept wandering around searching for them. We found some frog statues in our neighbor's yard and he continually asks to go check on them. Such is the drawing power of statues in your home garden. They don't have to be very big or expensive. They just have to fit the location and be found by one of these young explorers. As such, they help to develop the next generation's love of nature.