Growing Together

Photograph by Jerry Speier

The Child’s Place for Children With Special Needs, a program of the Brooklyn Public Library, uses its gardening program to teach language and literacy skills to children, both those who have disabilities and those who do not.

Children in Our Garden Club listen to stories and sing songs about gardening, and they learn to care for real plants in gardens that have been designed to accommodate people with a wide variety of physical disabilities.

Six levels of planting beds allow gardeners who use wheelchairs or walkers to work in the garden. Some planters have built-in seats on the side for children who tire easily.

Plants are selected to appeal to all of the senses. Lamb’s ear, a plant that is very soft to the touch, is one of the children’s favorites. They also enjoy fragrant plants, like mint, which some say remind them of Peppermint Patties. And grasses that make a whooshing sound when the wind blows add an element of sound.

Of the more than 590 children who were part of the gardening program last year, about half had disabilities and half did not.

“The children with disabilities are not at a disadvantage,” says Carrie Banks, director of the Child’s Place. “Because urban kids don’t garden, they’re all starting fresh with it. Nobody knows more or is better at it than anybody else.”

Here, an 11-year-old member of Our Garden Club waters pansies and daffodils at the Flatlands Branch Library.

The daffodil bulbs were part of a gift of 1 million bulbs made to New York City by a business executive in the Netherlands after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.