I was recently reminiscing with one of my grandsons about the fun times we had when he was little, and we played in my garden together. In all honesty, grandma had different warm memories than that little guy, who is now in his second year of college. I, of course, was hoping for affirmation of the strongly held belief that involving children at an early age in age-appropriate gardening activities will ensure a lifetime of love of gardening.

I vividly remember the fun of planting snow peas and carrot seeds with him and his little sister when they came for a visit. On each subsequent visit, we checked out the progress of the growing peas and carrots. The final connection was when they came down for Easter dinner and I gave them both baskets to harvest the veggies they helped plant. It remains a warm, wonderful memory for me. My grandson, however, doesn't remember any of this because he was too young. His strongest memory was going to smell a pretty rose and becoming frightened because there were a lot of creepy black bugs on it. He remembered I helped him not be afraid. I still like to think that somewhere in his memory sits a dormant recollection of the joy of planting seeds and harvesting tasty veggies. I don't even remember the aphid incident.

As with any learning, repetition is important for the strengthening of retention. For parents, involving children in the cycle of growth and seasons has a better chance of retention than a “one and done.”

For myself, as a child, I learned to love sitting in the garden quietly observing the sights and smells of a wide variety of flowers and shrubs. I was four years old, and the garden belonged to our landlord, and my parents rented an apartment from them. It was a magical time for me, as there were no playmates my age. I was allowed to sit in my little rocker chair by myself because I didn't get into “mischief.” I look to that time as the beginning of my love of the outdoors, especially the peace and joy of being alone with nature.

Fast forward to present day, and I still find myself going out to my garden when I am feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or just plain cranky. I suspect every parent and grandparent wants to pass along the love of the outdoors, and particularly the love of gardening, to their children and grandchildren. In today's stressful and often toxic environment, being able to retreat for a short time to reclaim a sense of stability and calm is something we can achieve without waiting for the weekend and a long drive to find a reprieve from built up stress.

Children mimic the actions and attitudes of the significant adults in their lives. Involving them in the planting and general

upkeep of the landscape can form their lifelong attitudes towards the outdoors. Show them how much you enjoy working in the garden. Pride and a sense of accomplishment are vitally important in all that we do. Children can share in this feeling if they are given appropriate feedback of a job well done.

Gardeners are made, not born, is a fairly common expression that illustrates the importance of involving children at all ages in the growing of a garden. Small children love to help in just about every gardening activity, and extra patience needs to be shown to not discourage their joy and wanting to help. The other half of this reality is when the children are finally old enough to really be of help, they lose interest and want to be out playing with friends. Parents are competing now with electronic devices for the attention of their children. It is increasingly difficult for parents to make the time to work with their children to instill in them the value of real life experiences. Not all is lost, however. Google can be used by school age children as a resource and teaching tool for plant identification and care!

Back to childhood memories of outdoor spaces and the sights and smells of lovely gardens. As parents and grandparents, we hold on to the belief that our efforts to raise our children will eventually bear the best kind of fruit: love of nature, and gardening in particular. Even if the younger ones lose these precious memories with time, we can still hang on to our own, and enjoy the warm feeling of accomplishment of having planted the seed in our next generation of gardeners.