While browsing through the garden blogs this rainy morning I came upon the Human Flower Project and this recent post about the Books in Bloom garden created by St. Michael’s College (Burlington, VT) education professor Valerie Bang-Jensen and biologist Mark Lubkowitch and their students. All the plants in the garden have a connection to a children’s book. There are lupines for Miss Rumphius, poppies for the Wizard of Oz and blueberries for Blueberries for Sal.
Of course, there are more modern books referenced in the garden. Guess what Harry Potter plants are included? Aunt Petunia and the family live on Privet Lane.
This is one of the teaching gardens on campus as part of their trans-disciplinary learning approach. To me it was just another reminder of how many paths there are in the garden, leading through the pages of literature, history, science and almost any discipline you can think of. No wonder gardeners are readers.
Pat,
I've seen a number of Shakespeare gardens but never one that represented the flowers in children's books – how lovely. I'm all for any project that combines the outdoors, flowers & literature – good for those folks in Burlington Vermont.
Barbara- I also thought this was a fabulous idea. And the Children’s Literature got me thinking about all my other favorite books, maybe there could be mystery gardens, or 19th century American literature gardens. Just off hand it seems that Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edith Wharton included a number of gardens and plants in their work.