Features of the Garden

Features of the Garden

Features of the Garden

Kentucky Children's Garden map with labels of areas

  • There are nine native wildflowers represented in the quilt: (from left to right) first row: Trilium, Solomon’s Seal, Goldenrod; second row: Pink Lady’s Slipper, Columbine, Jack in the Pulpit; third row: Shooting Star, Mayapple, Bloodroot.
  • Quilting is a traditional art form that pioneers brought with them to America. Settlers used quilts as bed coverings and as decoration.
  • People continue to quilt today, and Kentucky is a center for the quilting arts.
  • See if children can find their birthday on the quilt pattern and make a wish.
  • When limestone interacts with water underground, the water dissolves the limestone and forms a combination of caves, underground channels, and a rough, bumpy ground surface − what geographers and scientists call Karst topography.
  • The limestone makes Kentucky’s soil rich in calcium, which makes central Kentucky ideal for farming and for the horse industry.
  • Karst topography forms the world's longest cave system − the Mammoth Cave system of Kentucky is over 412 miles long.
  • Notice the “fossils” in the pavement of different shells and water life. Did you know that Kentucky used to be entirely under water?
  • Ask children if they can find a cave, sinking stream, or sink hole in the KCG.
  • The Knobs are rocky hills in Kentucky that border the Bluegrass region. In the valleys, the land is rich and good for farming.
  • The region is characterized by thick forests and a diversity of stone and minerals including limestone and coal.
  • The Knobs is the smallest region in Kentucky.
  • Encourage children to climb up the steps of the Knob overlook.
  • The Palisades are located by the Kentucky River and are made up of steep exposed limestone cliffs.
  • Kentucky was once covered by an ocean. When the ocean receded, the animals that lived there got pushed together to make limestone. This is called sedimentary rock.
  • The Kentucky River Palisades provide an ecosystem for four endangered species of bats and several rare and endangered species of plants.
  • Did you know that over half of the surface rock in Kentucky is limestone?
  • Pioneers used the stone for building materials. What else do you think they used stone for?
  • Encourage children to see if they can find fossils in the rock.
  • Tribes that were once in Kentucky: Shawnee (central KY), Chickasaw (far western KY), Cherokee (eastern KY), Yuchi (southeastern KY).
  • The 3 Sisters: Corns, Beans, and Squash. This garden was grown by American Indians and does not rely on plowing, but instead upon the natural sustaining relationship between corns, beans, and squash. Beans fertilize the soil for the corn and squash plants. The corn stalks support the beans when they grow tall. Squash plants act as a ground cover and keep out weeds in the garden.
  • Why do you think that American Indians and pioneers often settled by sources of water?
  • Look closely at the prints in the sidewalk from the cave to the encampment. What do you see?
  • Encourage children to look inside the wigwam to experience how Native Americans might have lived.
  • The Bluegrass region is known for its rolling green hills, historic rock fences, horse farms, and good soil for farming.
  • The earliest settlers in Kentucky built dry-laid fences around farmsteads, cemeteries, and mills.
  • The techniques used to build dry-laid fences were brought to this area by Scots-Irish immigrants using traditional Irish and Scottish methods.
  • The far western part of Kentucky touches the Mississippi River, the largest river in the United States. Many people would have used this route to travel and ship goods. Flatboats also traveled down the Ohio River on the northern border of Kentucky.
  • Flatboats were used for trading and shipping.
  • What kind of goods do you think people would have shipped using a flatboat?
  • Large flatboats built by traders often carried 30 or 40 tons of cargo per trip. They shipped cloth, food, ammunition, tools, and agricultural implements.
  • Kentucky has the second-most amount of moving water in the United States, second only to Alaska.
  • Once goods were delivered, the boats were disabled and driven back to their starting point by wagon.
  • Next to the pond is a book bench donated by John Cirigliano. The book bench features text from Harlan Hubbard’s novel "Shanty Boat." This is one of 38 book benches celebrating Kentucky native authors throughout Lexington.
  • There are 10 raised garden beds, and their themes change every year. Beds are labeled once they are planted.
  • Have children water and care for the plants found in these garden beds.
  • Ask children: What attracts butterflies? Colors, such as red, yellow, orange, pink, and purple blossoms and continuously blooming plants are butterfly attractors.
  • Our state butterfly is the Viceroy. Its wings have an orange and black pattern.
  • Every living thing is growing, and we all have different life cycles. Butterflies go through a metamorphosis − four different stages of growth. These stages are: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis (or pupa), and butterfly (or adult). Fly through the metamorphosis tunnels and emerge a beautiful butterfly!
  • See if children can name other animals that act as pollinators (bees, birds, flies, moths…).
  • The nature center was designed by Jon Carloftis and Longwood Antique Woods and created with reclaimed materials.
  • The floor pavers are from downtown Lexington and date to the early 1900s. It is over 100 years old.
  • This is where we keep most of our critters, such as the worm bin, fish tank, and hissing cockroaches.
  • Prairie plants thrive when burned. Burning recycles the nutrients, and some seed coats need to be burned to cause germination, and many forbs and grasses grow well after a burn. The extra sunlight after a burn helps plants grow faster. Fires occur both naturally and were traditionally set by Native Americans.
  • Perennial and herbaceous plants, Coneflower, Thimble Weed, Grasses, Rattlesnake Master, and Goldenrod, are important food for birds and insects and have concentrated food and nectar sources.
  • Children can observe the plants from a maze which runs throughout the Prairie.
  • This is an authentic log cabin from Kentucky which was resized for play by Longwood Antique Woods.
  • Many pioneer settlers came to Kentucky in the mid-18th century. Some built log cabins like this with dry laid foundation and timber, with chinking between. Chinking was often made with a mixture of cement with pieces of rock and stone to make the cement last longer.
  • Remind children that pioneers wouldn’t have had many of the things we take for granted today. Could they go to the grocery store to buy fruits and vegetables?
  • Also nearby: fenced heirloom vegetable garden, field crop demonstration garden.
  • This is a child-scaled amphitheater. There is an erosion play area in the center where children can use the hand pump to learn about erosion. There is also a demonstration rain garden to show visitors what they can plant around their homes to alleviate standing water.
  • We received a Sustainability Grant from LFUCG to create a run-off demonstration. An Eagle Scout created a run-off and erosion display. The demonstration allows us to pour water on two different ecosystems and compare how different plants affect water filtration into the soil. Plants which are ideal in rain gardens have extensive root systems; these long roots allow water to filter into the soil.
  • An aqueduct system was put into place so children can redirect water from the pump.
  • Key vocabulary words: run-off, erosion, ground water, permeable, porous.
  • We have a G-scale (garden) model train which can be looked at, but NOT TOUCHED. The model railroad and buildings were designed by Applied Imagination, founded by Paul Busse, and based in northern Kentucky.
  • We have several engines for the G-scale track in the Kentucky Children’s Garden: a C&O (Chesapeake and Ohio Railway) engine; a B&O (Baltimore and Ohio Railway) engine; and Thomas the Tank Engine.
  • There are 1,840 miles of railway in Kentucky. In the year 1832, the first railroad connected Lexington, KY, to Ohio. Trains are an important way to transport food and other supplies across the country.
  • Discuss how seeds travel − through the air and water, how animals transport seeds on their fur and by consumption.
  • Compass Rose allows children to find north as well as use a sundial to tell the time.

Contact Information

Molly Davis
Director

500 Alumni Drive Lexington, KY 40503

+1 (859) 257-6955