Lil' Sprouts keep tradition one teacup at a time

Among the trees and shrubs of Swan River Gardens, 21 “little sprouts” with parents in tow made ladybugs and fungi out of brightly colored bits of clay last Wednesday afternoon.

Different sized teacups waited on a table, full of soil and dwarfed by the half-broken planter filled with mosses and a log cabin that was to be their inspiration.

The Lil’ Sprouts Kids Club is in its fourth year of classes. Swan River Gardens owner Lisa Gannon and her nursery manager Mary Thompson designed them to acquaint kids with planting, gardening, plant identification, art and building.

“We have some kids that sign up for every single class,” Thompson said. “They just love it.”

The two dreamed up the idea while looking for a way to introduce kids, including their own, to gardening. All the programs they found were either too expensive or a huge time commitment, so they decided to put on their own classes. From March to September Swan River Gardens holds two classes a month.

Last Wednesday’s class involved making Tiny Teacup Fairy Gardens.

One of the instructors, Ev Wood, held up a little teacup example for the kids to see.

“Pretend you’re a little fairy or gnome, this is your world,” Wood said.

It was full of different colored mosses and a pebble pathway that led to a tiny birch door. Each “sprout” eventually filled their own teacup with different mosses and shrubs similar to those in the example and the broken planter.

Woods and her fellow instructor, Tammi McDaniel, created the teacup concept based on something they already do for Swan River Gardens. The duo does the gardens’ custom planting. They fill planters, bird baths, broken pots, and hanging pots with an array of mosses, flowers and shrubs for purchase or made to order.

Each class is taught by either a Swan River Gardens employee or a community member. And whether building nesting platforms for robins or planting flowers in eggshells, every class costs $7 with materials and a $5 spending voucher is included.

Gannon said they can keep the cost of the classes down because a lot of the materials used come from Swan River Gardens. For extras like the teacups, they plan way ahead, she’s been purchasing teacups from thrift stores since January.

Part of the reason Gannon feels that children enjoy the classes is because they are really hands on. Each student has something to take home with them at the end of the day.

Kris Edward was at the Tiny Teacup class on Wednesday with her two children, Kendal, 9, and Sydney, 6. It was their third time in a row attending Lil’ Sprouts classes.

“The first one we did was the little eggshells. We still mist them every morning.” Edward said. “I think the kids really like it.”

For Gannon and Thompson it’s about more than just introducing children to gardening. They hope the classes instill a love of nature and give children the ability to recreate the beauty they see around them.

“(It’s) something they can take on the rest of their lives,” Gannon said. “People have been gardening forever, if we can help keep that going, then fantastic.”

The next class will be offered Wed. May 30 from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The topic, “Mr. Grass Head,” covers planting grass seeds in old stockings.

For more information about the classes contact Swan River Gardens at 837-3375 or visit their website at www.swanrivergardens.com.