Urban Garden Center

Not very long ago, I was thinking about children's gardens that we have visited, and I was feeling sad because there isn't one on Oahu. I was worrying that Crumpet would be too old to enjoy the concept by the time we get back to the mainland. Then, lo and behold, I read this post by one of my favorite local bloggers, Oahu Mom. It turns out, there is a children's garden just down the road from us. It's part of a larger garden project created by the University of Hawaii's Cooperative Extension Service. We have passed this garden a hundred times while driving by on the highway, and we always wondered what it was, but had no idea how to get there. Now we know! Crumpet and I asked a friend to join us and we went exploring.

This rainbow marks the entrance. I asked the kids to stand still for a picture, but as you can see, Crumpet was too excited to wait!
The first section of the garden was a take-off on Mr. McGregor's garden from the Peter Rabbit stories. There were many rabbits hidden around the garden and we had to find them.
We could also peek into the little garden shed.
There were tea party supplies for the kids to play with, as well as gardening supplies.
There were plenty of tunnels and archways to play in.
Lots of gorgeous Hawaiian plants grow in the gardens, and they were labelled, so I finally know that these awesome trees are called Angels' Trumpets.

I also discovered a new-to-me plant, the Lipstick Tree.
These are the blossoms up close. Awesome, no?One section of the garden is the Pizza Garden. Everything growing in the garden is a vegetable or herb that you might find on a pizza. The stepping stones are made to look like pepperoni and there are mushroom statues scattered throughout. So cute!
There is an animal garden.
And a sensory garden:
The above tree had thorns all over it. The sensory garden also had soft lamb's ear plants and lots of yummy smelling herbs.


Throughout the garden, there were fun little surprises to find and study.
One garden consisted of a giant sundial where we practiced telling time.
This garden was a fantastic discovery, and we're hoping to go back with more of Crumpet's friends over winter break!