Children Musuem's Growing Contest Winners

It is my extreme pleasure as a mom and gardener to announce that both Fiona and Keegan won awards at this year's Imagine Children's Museum Growing Contest! Nothing delights me more in seeing the accomplishment on my children's faces in tending and growing their own plants in the garden.

The contest is a brilliant way of introducing gardening to children as well as learning responsibility in caring for a living plant. In early spring, the museum hands out packets of seeds and ends with a huge Harvest party to celebrate the kid's achievements in the garden. Last year after winning the prize for the biggest pumpkin (click here for last year's contest), Fiona chose to grow sunflowers and little brother Keegan took on the task of growing pumpkins.

Ironically, Fiona's sunflowers were completely dead by the time the contest rolled around last weekend. So with great pride she walked in with the largest stalk of dead sunflowers to the competition along with a poster complete with detailed descriptions (written by Fiona) under each picture. Yes, I admit, we had some second looks, but...that didn't dampen Fiona's excitement in her project. Her sunflowers weren't necessarily dazzling at that moment, but her spirit shined earning her a prize for Best Journal. (A girl after my own heart...a writer and a gardener!)

Keegan's pumpkins did well despite getting an odd leaf fungal in late August. (Actually I've heard from lots of pumpkin farmers that this has been a terrible problem this year.) He yielded over eight pumpkins and only half of them turned orange before the fungal attacked the plant.

Realizing that is was his project I let him pick the bounty for the Harvest Party and was pleased he picked a smaller orange pumpkin with a bright color. But most of all, I was glad he didn't announce to the judges as he accepted his award for honorable mention in best pumpkin that the pumpkin patch has been where he has been learning to "go potty" all summer. THAT my friends, would have definitely been a Little Blue Bungalow moment.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean