A. Inside and outside plants are great ideas for a child's gift. Developing gardening interest is fun for children no matter what their age, where they live or what the time of year. As a gift, plants come in all price ranges, are easier to care for than a puppy and require no batteries.
Galveston County has a long growing season for outside gardening either in the soil or in container. Children of all ages enjoy claiming plants or seeds from easy-to-grow varieties such as periwinkle (vinca), zinnia, moss rose (purslane), shasta daisy, mammoth sunflower, hardy blue asters, peppermint, bush beans, cucumber, and bell peppers.
An all-time favorite that will catch the eye of even a one-year-old is the mammoth sunflower. An ideal place is under a sunny window by the child's bedroom. As the sunflowers begin to peek over the window sill, the excitement mounts. Not only will the flowers fill the window all summer, but save sunflower seeds for bird feeding.
A good fall seed project requires three packages of seeds - any loose head lettuce, radishes and carrots. Use any available area in a flower bed or vegetable garden, mix the seeds together and broadcast them. You and your young gardener can pat the dirt down and wait for the first crop, the radishes. Children love to pull radishes and the radishes loosen the soil for the lettuce and carrots. The child can pick a few leaves of the loose head lettuce every day to add to mom's salad or to use on their sandwich. The carrots seem to be a favorite surprise and most children will eat all carrots they grow!
A "free" plant is a pineapple. Cut the top off with an inch of fruit attached, but scrape off the pulp. Root in water, then turn it into a pot plant or plant it outside if the yard has an area that grows other tropical plants. Although it takes a year for a new pineapple to mature on the plant, the year is never boring because its flowers are beautiful. Watching a pineapple grow from a top is a "real life" way to learn about a plant's life cycle.
Some plants are interesting to older children only, such as elephant ear, crown of thorns and cacti. Include a safety lesson since crown of thorns and elephant ears are poisonous if eaten, but their longevity gives the child a feeling of accomplishment. My nine-year-old and ten-year-old grandchildren just moved into a new home and our first conversation included "...and grandma, you need to buy us some more elephant ears for this yard." And so I did.
Children will enjoy house plants when the pot is the shape of a favorite animal or school mascot because it turns it into a 'pet plant'. There is a 'frog' pot that is in a kitchen window that was a gift plant thirty years ago. Don't forget about trees, with parents' permission, of course. Rather than pick a tree yourself, ask the parents what trees they plan to buy and pick one to belong to the child.
A gift of plants is excellent for birthdays, illness or just letting a child know you care about them. Best of all, they come packaged with a broad set of lessons - planning, patience, natural cycles, and perhaps another generation of plant lovers.