Snapdragons! I always planted them because DH loved them, but now my 4y.o. granddaughter adores playing with them on her fingers (but she is always careful to ask of me permission to pick a "snap flower" before she plays with them.) Some years the plants themselves will winter over and come back for an encore season; most years I thin out the self-seeded volunteers so I never have to buy them again. They can add that vertical line in the garden that is so complimentary to the roses without the fuss of delphiniums or the risk of using foxglove with young children.

I second snapdragons. They come is various sizes and colors and bloom all the time. What about some small ornamental evergreens or a japanese maple or the small variegated willows. And some fun things like Harry Lauder's Walking Stick or a little weeping cherry.

How about some Oriental Lilies? We love them because they bloom when the roses are tired July/August. The scent will be enchanting for the children.

How about white and/or pink daylilies? Easy, beautiful and hardy.

If you use daylilies, you might want to use the repeat blooming varieties for longer blooming periods. Perhaps some repeat blooming irises, coreopsis, and baby's breath might be good additions.

Can you do lamb's ear? That's one of my favorites for kids. It pretty well melts in the winter here, but you clean out the dead and it comes back. I let it bloom, since I rather like the flower spikes.

Miniature roses will tuck in nicely and bloom repeatedly. You already have one but there are so many more.

Salvias and other tubular flowers will attract hummingbirds. Asters attract bees and butterflies and bloom later in the year.

I like things with aromatic leaves, such as scented geraniums, artemesia (my son adored Silver Mound when he was little, but I found it hard to keep going), and herbs. I also think that kids really need tiny things to discover and consider their own. It's also nice to have a few things that tower over them, making the kids themselves fairy-sized.

How about some sunflowers? Not perennial, but it's magical to plant them and see them rocket up. I also planted pumpkins in my border a couple of years when my son was little - Jack-B-Little minis and a Cinderella pumpkins - they are magic, too, as are gourds such as birdhouse gourds or other odd shapes. If you're willing to consider edibles, strawberries are a nice groundcover.

A few bulbs would be nice, too, for early spring color. You could do other bulbs for later in the year. It's magic to see them emerge from the ground, and kids love to help plant them.

I spent several years working with a school garden and nothing was more enjoyable than watching a child plant a bulb or seed, or examine a flower or bug. I carried magnifying glasses along. The kids can be so intent.

Your grandkids are very lucky.
Anita

Balloon flowers are my favorite perennial. THey bloom until frost if you deadhead.

Thank you for the wonderful suggestions :)

I have a kitchen garden I'm putting in, just beyond the fairy garden, where we will plant sunflowers, nasturitums, marigolds, calendula, even stock and evening stock....all the fun companion plants for the veggie garden. In that area, there will be a mini-veggie garden along one part of the fence, with a Peter Rabbit theme. There's also a small kids' seating area planned, with a "mushroom" table and "stump" stools, under an arbor with gourds and mini-pumpkins. There's a middle bed, about 7' x 14' with three metal arches for the kids to walk under. These will be for pole beans, cherry tomatoes, climbing peas and flowers. There will be other veggies around the arches, with stepping stones underneath, planted with alpine strawberries for one of my nieces. Back in this area, we also plan to put a hopscotch area made up of stepping stones, kind of hidden behind the arches.

The rest of the kitchen garden has an 11' x 14' bed for a bean teepee, watermelons and veggies this year, but eventually a grape arbor with a table and chairs underneath. (The big vegetables will be in another garden next year.) The rest of the perimeter beds are for salad veggies, herbs and flowers.

We live on the family farm, so we have a lot of nieces, nephews, and friends' kids out to visit and see the horses, so I want them to have things to do and gardening can be so much fun for kids. Many don't have gardens at home, so I want them to see gardening can be fun and the food tastes so much better!

For the little ones, or just a shady space for Auntie to sit and have tea when they're not here, I have the "fairy" garden. This is against the east side of the house, so the tea table and chairs are in the afternoon shade. This is where I'm putting the Zephirine Drouhin roses against the house and some ferns and maybe a few hydrangea. There's also pansies, columbine, forget-me-knots, violets, sweet woodruff and some wild sweet william.

There's a grass path along the side of the house, that divides the shade garden from the sunnier part of the garden, where most of the roses are planted. That's where I need to fill in with some color. Behind the roses, I have blueberries (to keep the deer away--so far it works) and behind that, I'm thinking of putting a couple of dwarf apple trees.

Since there's so much to do in the veggie garden, I'm trying to make the fairy garden more of a fun place where we can see butterflies, bumblebees and maybe an occasional dragonfly...which the girls love. I also have some cute little animal statues and a small cement castle I'll tuck under the plants for the kids to find and enjoy. The main colors are lots of greenery, pink, purple, blue and white. Any other suggestions for the fairy garden are greatly appreciated :)

Everything you have sounds perfect. If you don't have too many rabbits, bluebells are good. Also some annuals like borage and love-in-a-mist. My children also liked bleeding heart, or lady-in-the bath.

Humble annuals like zinnias are enjoyed by children and also butterflies. I also like melanponium because it is very tough.

It all sounds enchanting, I think. Two other things I thought of are a rose with large hips for wintertime and some catmints for the smell. My neighborhood kids and daughter loved wandering through our garden and picking flowers - they were all so happy that I encouraged flower picking. Your young relatives are fortunate to have such a garden-happy aunt and friend. Gean

My kids' favorite flower was pansies. They also liked to make hollyhock dolls. You take a bud, stick a toothpick in the bottom for the head and stick that through the top of the flower.
I used to go out and pick Harison's Yellow and bring it in to my mom. Another favorite thing for my grandkids to do is to pick my peonies just as they get blooming good. "What kind of rose is this, Gramma?"
And I never say a word.
One year I tried making a sunflower house from a magazine. That was a mistake. I planted them in a circle with a doorway. The kids went in, but didn't stick around. Lousy with bees.
If you ever get into rooting cuttings, maybe we should trade. I haven't had too much luck with trading cuttings. It's too long in the mail. But it's 24 hours from Washington to Montana.

This may seem strange, but what about adding a few easy to grow herbs, such as chives, basil, & dill? Borage also is easy to grow and draws bees when it blooms. It's a bit coarse looking, but the flowers are pretty.

Tamora is a wonderful rose for a kids garden. Sweet story- my niece's first complete sentance was after smelling Tamora. She looked up and said 'I like that one'! She loves to pick the lemon verbena. The leaves smell so good! I think lamb's ear is a really good choice too.

I like Louisiana Iris, Daylilies, Calla Lilies, Little Girl Japanese Magnolias, Rosemary, Catnip, some peppermint and perhaps a really fragrant David Austin rose.

For a fairy garden, I recommend bellflowers. These have a magical cottagy charm. My recommended varieties are

Campanula persicifolia and p. alba,
C. p. Chettle Charm
C. lactiflora 'Loddon Anna'
Campanula medium 'Cups and Saucers' (although biennial, will self-sow)
and C. carpatica + carpatica alba (Blue Clips and White Clips)

These and some cottage pinks would have a magical effect.

:)

If you have never grown peppermint I feel I ought to warn you that it is very vigorous. I like it but have only ever grown it in a pot.