lavender,

Why not create a central round(or square, or diamond) bed, surrounded by your 4 beds - and you could put a tuteur in the middle or grow tall plants like sunflowers or corn in the middle. Of put teepees for beans to climb up on.

You could edge each be with a row of marigolds or if you wish to keep a green hedging, use thyme which you may need to prune often. Or use silvery plants like santolina. The fun thing with annuals is you get to change the design yearly.

Ianna

That's a great idea! I don't have enough space to add a bed in the middle, but I could put some climbing plants in the bed right behind the peter rabbit area. I have two cute little obelisks that would be tall enough for climbing peas or cucumbers. I like the idea of the flower edging. I want it to be bright and cheerful, so marigolds would work really well...maybe some nasturtiums too :)

I've made an tepee of 3 long poles and grew gourds on them in my granddaughter's garden. She thought they were fun. She also enjoys unusual colored veggies such as purple beans, red carrots and purple kohlrabi. Baby carrots are another favorite.

The kids will love nasturtiums. When I was a child my parents grew them at the top of a concrete retaining wall and we would pick the flowers and bite off the pointy end and suck the nectar out! The hummers they attract will also charm the children.

Mints are fun as the children can taste them right in the garden and pick them for tea also. There are so many different ones - one year I had 10 in large pots. Have a look at Richters for the various flavors. Definitely keep them in pots tho. My DH dug the pots into the garden so they would winter over but when I left them there they escaped. If I were ever to do mints again I'd grow them in pots on the patio and use them as annuals only.

I haven't looked at mini-vegetables in a long time but they must have some with cutsie names the kids would enjoy. Are you planning to make signs for the various plants?

Edible flowers such as Johnny-Jump-Ups and I'm sure there are many more would be great. Make sure the children are aware which flowers are edible and which are not. Maybe keep all the edibles in one bed.

For anyone doing a pole teepee for climbing vines I recommend making it larger than you may think is necessary. We used poles that were at least 8' long and it doesn't make a very large 'tent' with the space at top where you tie the poles and when the plants attain full size.

I'm really looking forward to pics of your potager LL!

Here is a link that might be useful: Richters mints

Thank you all for the great suggestions :)

Signs are a very good idea. It would be cute in the mini-veggie area. Any suggestions for making signs for little carrots, cabbage, lettuce, etc.?

I do try to keep all the "safe" plants, if not exactly edible, together. The vegetables that are not so safe, like potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, etc. will go in another garden.

I got a new arbor yesterday (so excited) with two benches underneath on a great sale! The grape arbor was years away, due to the price, so this will be a nice feature for now. Not sturdy enough for grapes, but the arbor will be a great place for the climbing beans. I love the Emerite and purple pole together, because they have lavender and purple flowers :)

There will be some pots around the arbor, which would be a great place to put some mints! I also want to include strawberries somewhere in the garden. Thornless blackberries (just a few) would also be nice, maybe along the outside of the fence. Has anyone grown these? Chester is supposed to be pretty hardy.

Thanks again and I will post pictures, as soon as I have the garden planted!

My grandma had painted rocks with a gold spray paint,and tucked them in among the plants. I loved the story of the goose and the golden egg, so i thought they were golden eggs!(for a few minutes lol)
You might even be able to help them paint ladybugs on rocks or something similar as a project together. I know these arent peter rabbitish, but i was just thinking of things to do with kids...
and i saw in a magazine where tall sunflowers were planted in a large circle to create a hideaway for kids to play, i liked that idea as well!
sorry to ramble on non related things but they involve kids!

Somewhere you need chamomile, for chamomile tea which Mother Rabbit made for Peter at the end of his very busy day in Mr. McGregor's garden. Two herbs are used--Anthemis nobilis(Roman Chamomile)and Matricaria chamomilla)
reseeding annuals in a sunny, dry, well drained location.

Chris

You can make signs out of broken pottery pieces - especially large ones that you can write on. Or if you are into some interesting projects, create ones out of colored concrete. You can find these kits with letter stamps, in craft stores.

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You can create willow fences by sticking branches into the ground and curving them into a hoop.And continue doing so in an overlapping way. Make sure they are dead twigs.
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Put up a blue bottle tree.
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make marigold garlands & hats for the girls.
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Lilyfinch- I love the golden egg idea :) I plan to use lots of bugs in this garden and the fairy garden...mainly butteflies, ladybugs, bees and dragonflies. Sunflowers are always great for a kids' garden. I plan to use some behind the tomatoes, but too many bees for a house, I'm afraid...but great for pollinating the pumpkins LOL.

Chris- Chamomile would be fun! I'll have to see if I can find some at the store. Would it be better to buy plants or seeds?

Ianna- Marigold garlands...I don't think I've ever seen those...that would be so much fun for the girls :) Mom has agreed to paint hopscotch stones for me (she's far more talented with such things) and we plan to put them in the back of the Peter Rabbit area.

Great ideas...you all have such wonderful suggestions!

I saw a Peter Rabbit garden years ago & can't remember everything, but the lady had a hand-lettered wooden sign at the gate that started the story, then some ceramic carrot tops where Peter ate the carrots, & his little overalls (from the baby department) were hanging on a hanger, with his sneakers tied by their shoelaces around the hanger.

This is a picture of the Peter Rabbit garden at the Greenbay Botanical Garden. Notice the sign on the shed "McGregor"

I love the ideas that sylviatexas gave in the last post. Of course you need a rabbit.

{{gwi:645857}}

OT, but I know what I'm going to plant along the fence with my morning glories now - pink/rose zinnias (re the bean vine and zinnias in michelle's pic)! I love the photo.

Did anyone mention child size gardening tools to place about the Peter Rabbit garden? Sometimes you can find inexpensive sets.

I've never heard of a 'Peter Rabbit' garden. Can someone give me an idea of what you understand by the phrase? The picture of Greenbay looks 100% American to me, so how is the term understood over there?

There is a garden at Hilltop, Beatrix Potter's home, which emulates the details shown in her illustrations.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:645854}}

lavender: i draw inspiration from Martha Stewart's website. The marigold garland came from her site.

Flora- I see what you mean. I think for me, it means trying to include veggies that are in the story...maybe some thornless blackberries if they'll do well in my zone. Since many of the vegetables I'm using are miniatures, including carrots, cabbage, lettuces, peas, etc. I think the kids would enjoy making it more like a story book garden. Peter Rabbit is a good choice for boys and girls and it's also about a garden! I know that's probably not very authentic, but I hope it explains what I'm trying to recreate. You have to take a leap of faith, when your background looks more like Montana than the UK :)

Michelle- Great picture! I agree with schoolhouse, it's a great idea for what to plant along a fence. I like the beans or the morning glories with the zinnias.

Schoolhouse- I do have some small gardening tools. Thank you for helping me remember that I had them put away from last summer's clearance :)

Sylvia- What a cute idea for the sign and I bet the accessories were adorable! I enjoy gardening, but I think this area and the fairy garden are my favorites, just because it's so much fun to add all the accessories. I think the kids are going to love them...I know I do (LOL)

Ianna- Thanks for the tip on the marigold garlands. I will definitely look that up tonight :)

Hi Lavendar Lass-
always enjoy your posts.
I am a teacher and have planted many gardens with children. I highly recommend the book "Roots Shoots Buckets and Boots" by Sharon Lovejoy. Subtitle is Gardening Together with Children.
It has so many wonderful ideas-themes like Giants Garden, Moon Garden, Flowery Maze etc. and is full of ideas. She is such a fun writer..I grew a Peter Rabbits Garden=just did most of the list (did not try cabbages) and if you look on page 45 you will see that Peter knocks over some potted geraniums. Dont forget the camomile, and you can make a minature scarecrow with a little blue jacket. So much fun! and never to be forgotten.
I hope you get a chance to get that book-it is a real inspiration.

Teakettle2- Your Peter Rabbit garden sounds very cute. Did you have the potted geraniums and scarecrow? I don't suppose you have any pictures?

I did see that book and it had some great ideas. It's been a while since I've looked at it though, so I may have to make another trip to the library. I don't remember the Peter Rabbit garden, but that was before I saw the idea on an old cottage garden forum post. Any other suggestions for books? We have a great county library nearby :)

Ok I see now - it's more a sort of 'spirit of' than authentic replica. I have gardened since I was very small and also loved the Beatrix Potter books. I had an 'Auntie'(actually an old friend of my parents) with whom I used to spend some of the summer holidays. She lived in a house called Wisteria Cottage and she first gave me the books. One of the things which I always loved was that every plant in BP's books is identifiable even when they are just the ghosts of plants visible in the distance. If you expand beyond Peter Rabbit there's a wonderful Clematis jackmanii and snapdragons in the Pie and the Patty pan and of course all those foxgloves in Jemima Puddleduck, not to mention the rhubarb where she attemps to lay eggs.

Flora- Wisteria Cottage sounds like a lovely place. What a good idea to expand to some of the other stories. I can't include the foxgloves, but the snapdragons would be perfect :)

Well, it's been a few years....but I had a lot of unexpected distractions. So, finally....here's the plan for the garden. The black arbor I mentioned above is what's in the two left beds, with black arches at top and bottom of the other beds.

The perimeter is all fruits around the arbor....red raspberries, purple raspberries, strawberries, grape and blackberries....with blueberries at the front entry. Asparagus and perennial herbs (including chamomile) will be on the right/perimeter. Bird bath and lavender in the middle of the 'four beds to right' and lollipop crabapple trees in the corners.

Still very much a work in progress....but at least I finally got the design finished! :)

Picture of black arbor...from a few years ago.

So....several months later and we are finally getting the garden started! Here's an updated plan and a few progress pics : )

The four middle gardens are 8' x 8' and those are for annuals. All the rest will be perennials, mainly fruit, flowers and herbs....oh and asparagus for Mom. She loves asparagus!

quite a bit of work there and its just lovely that you have that much land to plant out.

Thank you, Ianna. It's a large space, but more than half grass paths. We wanted somewhere to enjoy walking though the garden, but still have edible plants.

A kitchen garden seemed like the perfect choice. And they're just so pretty : )