Plant Smacking Savvy
Why the "OVERgrowth?"
I sometimes get the complaint that the children’s garden is so "overgrown." This is a complaint of adult personages and not of children. Children seem to have no problem navigating the environment in which they find themselves. I thought of this particular comment yesterday as I was pruning the Little Leaf Lindens that stretch their arms over each side of the front garden gate. The bottom branches create a filtered view into the garden and a height requirement as adults must bend slightly or face branch brushing. Hershey Children’s Garden is built around immersion. The garden is designed as a full immersion experience with plant, flower, frog and dragonfly. As a gardener I want plants smacking you in the face. In this garden, people move for the plants and not the other way around.
Having said all that, I do take certain measures. My style of gardening is to provide a wild but controlled look to any space I manage. This is reflected most in the way woody plants are pruned. I prune to control growth so as to keep plants in scale with others or to provide filtered views or clear path ways. Kids do become intimidated when a path becomes too overgrown. We find kids do not choose a path if it is so congested that it looks like a scary place to be or an impenetrable barrier.
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