Arlene Marturano

This little house will eventually be hidden by so much prairie grass. River Farm, the American Horticultural Society's national headquarters, is located on 25 acres overlooking the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia. The property was one of George Washington's five farms along the river.

Today, River Farm showcases AHS's national gardening initiatives, best practices, and SMART GARDEN™ tenets. One of AHS's educational initiatives is youth gardening.

In 1994, AHS hosted its first annual youth gardening symposium for educators and horticulturists at River Farm. At that time the Children's Garden, which consists of a dozen demonstration theme gardens, was unveiled.

The toddler's Maze Garden is a series of winding pathways around slightly raised beds with seasonal plantings. Currently, the daffodil maze is abloom.

The Fairytale Garden poses questions to stir a child's imagination. "Where are the fragrance fairies? How does the wooly thyme fairy feel?"

The Daffodil Maze will become a Sunflower Maze in June. The Rock and Roll Garden features Erosion Explosion with band members Fire, Wind and Water. Plants with fiery leaves and flaming flowers, wind chimes, and slabs of stone furnish the landscape.

Participants like to touch the herbs in the Scrunch and Sniff Garden. Beau Beau's Garden is named for Marc Cathey, president emeritus of AHS.

The garden illustrates how a grandparent can share the love of plants with grandchildren by including their favorite colors in the plants and their favorite animals through topiary.

Child- sized shovels in Wobby the Worm's pit challenge children to see how much earth they can move and how many earthworms they can find.

In the Boat Garden children pile into a flatiron skiff to sail back to the early 1800s when boats like this left River Farm on the Potomac.

For a virtual tour of River Farm, www.ahs.org.

Arlene Marturano is a master gardener, writer, and educator. As an advocate of gardening as a tool for learning, she helped develop the Carolina Children's Garden at the Sandhill Research and Education Center. She is an education consultant with T.E.A.C.H. marturano@yahoo.com