Kids/Sensory Garden Kit

Meet our new Kids/Sensory Garden Kit!
Our garden kits contain 38 plants pre-arranged in a tray for easy plunk-and-go gardening. Not your style? No problem. Each plant is labeled with height and spacing so you can incorporate them into your landscape with ease.
 
For so very long, landscaping has been about turning outdoor space into eye candy with giant blooms predominating. Plants were bred and gardens were designed to be consumed with the eyes, not with the other senses, and certainly not to be consumed by insect "pests". Part of gardening with native plants is learning to look past the blooms, to look at the texture of the stems and leaves, the insect interactions, even the architecture of dry stems. Moving past blooms means appreciating the wonders of nature with more than vision, and learning we can engage with touch, scent, flavor, sound, and imagination. This garden is for people who want to awake those other senses, whether for necessity or choice or fun.
 
This Kids/Sensory Garden is designed for average garden soil and full to part sun. It will contain 2 to 5 of each species, usually of the following mix of plants, but one way we keep the per plant costs low on garden kits is by reserving the right to substitute plants based on our current inventory. Your kit may differ from the list below in exact species, but the plants included are guaranteed to meet the stated goals, in this case, offering a variety of sensory experiences. If you need specific plants for your garden goals, consider supplementing your garden kit with quarts:
 
False Dragonhead/Obedient Plant - tubular blooms can be rotated on the stalk and stay where you put them, encouraging play.
Common Milkweed - delicious scent that intensifies in the evening; fat, textured seed pods and downy seed fluff.
Stiff Goldenrod - young leaves are like velvet
Sweet Black-eyed Susan - fragrant foliage
Evening Primrose - flowers are lightly lemon-scented, dry seed pods rattle in the breeze
Prairie Dropseed - this grass has fragrant flowers, fine textured foliage, clouds of seeds, and attracts birds
Wild Strawberry - edible fruit with an intense flavor
Wild Columbine - an early-season flower that attracts hummingbirds.
Wild Bergamot - strongly scented leaves can be added to tea.
Prairie Sage or Pussytoes - Prairie Sage has leaves with a pronounced scent and flavor, Pussytoes have namesake soft flowers, and both host the caterpillars for big, colorful butterflies.
Common Yarrow - feathery leaves with a strong medicinal scent.
New England Aster - favorite of buzzy bumblebees. 
 
If substitutions are necessary, they may include Early Goldenrod (scent), June Grass or Side Oats Grama (texture), Whorled Milkweed (scent, butterflies), Shining Aster (bumblebees), Canada Milkvetch (sound), Nodding Wild Onion (scent/taste/sound), or others. These plants are also recommended if you wish to expand your sensory plant collection. 
 
This economical kit includes 38 plant plugs that fill 50 square feet at 1-foot spacing - about a 5'x10' bed (assuming an 8" border); or up to 86 square feet at 1.5 sq. ft. spacing - a 6'x14' bed. Each kit comes with a planting guide. The plants are individually tagged for identification and all tags include height so you can alter the layout to suit your space.  
*Picture is an example kit of a different type. This kit will differ from the picture.