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Cultivating Skills

In the Seattle Children's PlayGarden, special-needs kids dig in and have fun

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TOM REESE / THE SEATTLE TIMES Maria McCarthy explores the new Seattle Children's PlayGarden with a hand from Jenny Gamache.Three artists, a physical therapist and four students from Garfield High School launched the first Arts in the Garden program in July. Students ranged from able-bodied to children with multiple disabilities.

LIZ BULLARD EXPLAINS in one convincing sentence why the city should have a playground for special-needs children. "City playgrounds aren't safe for kids who don't understand boundaries," says Bullard, a speech therapist and executive director of the new Seattle Children's PlayGarden.

Children with autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome are easily discouraged by typical swings and slides, let alone big groups of active children. "These kids' lives are filled with therapy and classrooms and goals. They need a place to get outdoors and play," says Bullard. Balance, co-ordination, strength and social skills are all learned through play and meaningful work. That's where the gardening comes in. Special-needs kids often don't feel able to be productive. "Here, they can plant and harvest," Bullard says.

In 2002, she read an article in Garden Design magazine about the horticultural-therapy program at Rusk Children's Play Garden next to a rehab hospital in New York City. She was captivated by the possibilities of gardening as physical therapy for special-needs kids in Seattle. She wrote letters to everyone she knew, and collaborated with the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation to make it happen. In July, the first batch of kids, ages 4 to 12, came to arts day camp at the partly completed PlayGarden.

Neglected Colman Playground in the Rain-King neighborhood is now cultivated and tended by volunteers. Raised beds hold beans, corn, lettuces, zucchini and pumpkin, the squashes grown as raw material for art-camp sculptures. The play area is edged with a ledge for kids to rest on when they dig in the dirt. Most of the plants, like strawberries, mint, sugar snap peas and furry lamb's ears, were chosen to taste, touch and pick.

Neighborhood kids shoot hoops at a fancy new court, which was in part donated by the Seattle Storm and SuperSonics. Bullard sees the court as a nice, flat surface for mobility training and wheelchair basketball.

Despite all the progress, development of the play-garden remains as much dream as reality. Bullard is the only employee, paid for two days a week. There's a board and a design team. Private donors are chipping in, much of the equipment and most of the plants have been donated.

Daniel Winterbottom, associate professor of landscape architecture at the University of Washington, and his students were part of the design team. Its ambitious plans call for demonstration gardens and an animal enclosure. A play plaza with grassy mounds for climbing, an herb garden and a picnic area will coax in families. Bullard envisions after-school programs, pre-school classes and summer-long camps as well as family drop-by visits. She also hopes for a staff of physical therapists, gardeners and artists. She recalls a visit to the bucolic Spiral Garden in Toronto, which has storytelling and puppetry in its curriculum. A staffer there told Bullard that if you want kids to play, hire an artist.

Now In Bloom

Sneezeweed (Helenium cultivars) bring an autumn palette to the late-summer garden. Narrow stems to 3 feet high and golden-brown centers distinguish these hardy perennials from the other daisy-like flowers blooming this time of year. The flowers open over many weeks and look best paired with ornamental grasses. H. 'Butterpat' is butter yellow; 'Rubinzwerg' has mahogany-red petals.

ILLUSTRATED BY JULIE NOTARIANNI

The entire play-garden will eventually be fenced in for safety and security. An adventure play area is planned for stage five on the park's lower level, with a marsh and rock scramble for the most able-bodied children. Bullard is especially looking forward to the renovation of a historic shelter and construction of a new garden house, with meeting rooms, restrooms, a kitchen and indoor play space for rainy days.

The new play-garden is a place for everyone, no matter what their skills. "Children come in families," says Bullard, "and everyone benefits from playing outside." And now with this specially designed playfield, everyone can.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net. Tom Reese is a Seattle Times staff photographer.