Wow! Wow! Garden grants! If you plan to plant with pint-sized gardeners this spring, you may be able to win a grant to help you grow.
Wow! Wow! Garden grants!
February 28, 2008 at 7:18PM
The National Gardening Association and Starz Media have announced the Wuzzleburg Preschool Garden Awards, which will distribute 75 grants, each eligible for $1,000 worth of gardening products. The preschool grant program is sponsored by "Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!," an animated comedy that airs on Nick Jr. and Noggin.
To qualify, a preschool or day-care center must submit a plan for a garden to be planted and tended by a group of at least 10 children, ages 3 to 5, during 2008. Award packages will include garden tools, teaching materials and a gardening activity guide for teachers.
Applications must be postmarked by March 15. Awards will be shipped no later than April 15. For more information and an application, go to www.kidsgardening.org/grants.asp.
CONNIE NELSON
Landscape pioneer Who is John Brookes? He's the British master gardener who "changed the way people think about their gardens," according to "John Brookes Garden and Landscape Designer: The Career and Work of Today's Most Influential Garden and Landscape Designer" (Octopus/Conran, $39.95).
Redundant title aside, the book makes a compelling case for appreciating Brookes as a pioneer in the "outdoor room" trend, one of the first to assert that gardens should be about people and living rather than plant repositories.
Author Barbara Simms weaves a readable blend of biography and practical landscaping lessons, while the photos showing the lavish estates of some of Brookes' clients offer plenty of eye candy for garden gawkers. Simms includes detailed plant diagrams -- just in case you want to replicate these landscapes of the rich and famous in your own back yard.
KIM PALMER
