May Feature I can’t help thinking about gardening as spring comes on. When I worked at Boynton’s Greenhouses, May was an exciting as well as stressful time, with everyone coming in for Mother’s Day flowers, Memorial Day Arrangements, graduation gifts, prom corsages, wedding flowers, and a variety of vegetables to transplant into their own gardens. When we had a Drop Everything and Read celebration at the Mercer School before April vacation, I, in my role as Miss Rumphius, “the lupine lady,” had brought packets of easy-to-grow flower seeds for the children to plant at home, but the day was so full I didn’t have a chance to give them out. Now, as well as mentioning some of our gardening books, I thought I would suggest easy plants for budding (ha ha) gardeners. Sunflowers grow fast and large. Nasturtiums are almost certain to succeed, and you can eat both blossoms and leaves, though not everyone cares for the peppery taste. Sweet peas do well if the soil is not too acidic. Marigolds and cosmos are bright and easy to grow. They like a sunny spot. Easy and satisfying vegetables include radishes, peas, beans, and Swiss chard.. In Mercer we have many beautiful books about plants. Some are whimsical, like The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle, which tells the story of one seed’s life journey. Others combine art and science, for example Ruth Heller’s The Reason for a Flower (Heller has many brightly-colored nonfiction books, including Kites Sail High about verbs; Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones about egg layers; Plants That Never Ever Bloom about fungi, etc.). My Backyard Garden by Carol Lerner, donated by the Bloomfield Garden Club encourages young gardeners in many ways, including descriptions of tools, suggestions for companion planting and garden layout, detailed illustrations of common weeds and insect pests. An adult would need to help a child use this pretty book because it is very comprehensive and gives all sorts of information for a satisfying family project. As usual we have so much to choose from that I am only mentioning a few highlights. I ought to say that for young entomologists and biologists we have a nice range of books on insects, amphibians, and reptiles, too.
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