Episode 3214

- [Voiceover] Doesn't this look like a totally fun place to learn about gardening? Rita Venable visits God's Little Acre in Franklin, where every element of this immersive, interactive space enables and inspires children to grow plants and nurture them. Also fun is Nashville Tree Foundation's new unique tree contest. Julie Berbiglia showcases four terrific specimens that will remind you just how awesome that nature is. Come along. Lesson plans here come to life with hands-on experiences and discovery.

- Robert Brault once said, "Why try to teach a child a miracle when they can plant a garden?" Well, we are at such a place today where a child can really experience those miracles. Back in 2019, Cynthia Wallace was a visionary. She created this garden, the colorful fence, the wonderful storage buildings and the teaching area, plus an exciting thing, the Keyhole Gardens, which I had never seen before. So let's go explore this wonderful place for children. Sometimes we forget the fact that children are little people, but everything in this garden is designed for children, including these low profile beds here. And Mary Ann McGinley is one of the directors of the Giving Garden's God's Little Acre. Mary Ann, can you tell us a little bit about these beds and this strip, and what the purpose of the garden is?

- Yeah, so God's Little Acre is an extension of the Giving Garden and a place for children to have an immersive experience with the gardening and God's creation. These beds are nice and low so that they can water and pick, put peppers and plants and see all of the things going on.

- [Rita] The first thing that pops out to me as I walked through the gate is this wonderful expanse of bee balm, and Mary Ann, I bet this was a picture in the summer.

- [Mary Ann] Yeah, it's so colorful and the bees are just buzzing all around it being active.

- And the bees pollinate the flowers, and the other flowers and the garden crops as well. And here is the wonderful chives, which is an herb and also a bee attractor, which we don't often think of herbs as being pollinator attractors, but they really are. Not only do they have wonderful chive plants here that are child size, but they also have another pollinator plant that I happen to love, which is the native ninebark which is very attractive to pollinators. And by the way, comes in a huge variety of cultivars now. So if the big gangly here isn't quite your thing, there are lots of smaller ones that you can utilize for your garden. And right here, which is probably one of my very favorite plants for, not only children's gardens but anywhere, is hyssop. And once again, children can get way down low and see the bees. And it's still got bees all over it. And a taller child can look at the top part too. And it's got soldier beetles on it. It's got bumblebees. It's just a wonderful pollinator plant to have in any garden. Mary Ann, what do you do about all these bumblebees and insects and the children keeping a safe distance?

- Well, it's definitely a concern and a concern that the kids naturally have, but the bees are doing a lot of work on their own and as long as we don't bother them, they are not gonna bother the kids. So, it's usually not a problem.

- Okay. Okay, good deal. What lessons have been particularly good for kids that they got really excited about and seem to have a great time and really got it about gardening?

- They love looking at all of the seeds and how different they all are and identifying them with the plant that they will become. And so we usually try and identify some seeds in some seed packets as the picture. So it's reinforcing it and then taking those seeds out to the Keyhole Gardens and planting them.

- Fun.

- It's so exciting.

- [Rita] Do you do anything on soil or,

- [Mary Ann] Yes.

- [Rita] composting or?

- [Mary Ann] Yes, we love composting and learning about good soil and how important it is to the benefit of the plant. And we learn about what we compost and what we don't compost. I always enjoy when the adults are like, "Oh, I learned something too."

- [Rita] That's good.

- They have a little sheet of paper with all the different senses and several things to find on each sense. Like find something long and tall and white for visual and something to smell. And we go out and we try and find everything on the checklist and then come back and talk about the discoveries that we made.

- Okay! And you know, if I tried to have a picnic at one of these tables, it's gonna be really little.

- [Mary Ann] Yeah.

- And I can't fit in here. So tell me about this.

- Yeah, they were specially designed for kids so that they can fit and feel comfortable in their own little space and we're so thankful that they're so sturdy 'cause they sure love to kick around the mulch and wiggle. They're very excited to be out here.

- [Rita] Okay, and you have children's size gloves and things like that?

- [Mary Ann] We do, yes. And watering cans and tools that they get so excited that something, that we went out of our way to find something that would fit their bodies.

- [Rita] Okay. And do you have kids that seem to like special things? Like, "I'm the dirt guy," or, "I'm the watering girl."

- [Mary Ann] Oh, definitely.

- You know, they just go right to that thing.

- [Mary Ann] Yeah, yeah. And the other kids that are like, "Ooh, I don't wanna do that."

- [Rita] Yeah, "I don't wanna touch that", or whatever.

- [Mary Ann] But this is an opportunity for them to try something that maybe they haven't tried before, and the parents love that about the program.

- [Rita] Yes, and it connects them with the earth too,

- [Mary Ann] Yes.

- which is a wonderful thing. Hey, if I were a kid, this would be right where I would go. I love to walk on rocks, and these are not too tall so they're really cool. Tell us about 'em.

- Yeah, actually, not the other day, we were enjoying some coffee and the kids were out here and we remarked on how nice it was that we could just enjoy coffee and they just had endless hours of play on the rocks.

- And we think we have to buy expensive toys. No.

- [Mary Ann] No.

- [Rita] Stick, a rock, and a garden. And I bet you have some earthworm kids too, don't you?

- [Mary Ann] Oh yeah, oh yeah.

- [Rita] And they love to just, mmm.

- [Mary Ann] See the willies and crawleys.

- [Rita] And, "What is this? What is that?" Great. The other half of this dynamic duo is Sarah Morris. Good morning, Sarah.

- Good morning.

- And can you tell us a little bit about this trellis here?

- Yes, so the green bean trellis was something that Ms. Cynthia Wallace came up with. And it's just a cool way for the kids to be immersed into God's creation, which is what we want them to experience when they're out here. And it's fun when they walk under the tunnel, they get to pick and harvest the green beans that they planted every time when it's in season. So, it's just a really fun way for the kids to experience what they plant and grow.

- [Rita] Okay, so they can walk through here and they can hopscotch, right?

- [Sarah] And they get to hopscotch.

- [Rita] And they get to hopscotch right out to here.

- [Sarah] Yeah, I'll give it a go.

- Sarah, you're a better hopscotcher than me. I love these keyhole gardens, not only for children but for myself. I wish I could have one in my backyard. But Sarah, tell us a little bit about the idea behind the keyhole garden. And you can see, this is the keyhole right here.

- We have about 12 to 15 kids per class that come out. And I like that it's in a circle formation, so when the kids come out, we circle around the keyhole and it's a perfect height for one 'cause they don't have to look up or bend down too far. And it also shows how much you can plant in a small space. Like for kids who don't have an acre of land to plant okra and pumpkins and strawberries, they just need one bed. So for each class that has 12 to 15 kids, we plant 30 different types of seeds in here.

- [Rita] Okra right here, and you've got pumpkin behind you, is that right?

- [Sarah] Yes, we have.

- [Rita] And let's see, we have one, two, three, four, five keyhole beds right here.

- [Sarah] Yes.

- [Rita] So that's great. And do you mix the plants? Do you put like carrots in with broccoli or?

- [Sarah] Absolutely. One of the lessons that we have is companion planting,

- [Rita] Okay.

- which is another reason why I like the keyhole gardens is you can see what plants grow well with other plants, what plants don't grow well when they're in close proximity to certain plants. So that's a lesson in itself. We found that recycled water bottles make excellent watering cans. We found that their hands are great for shoveling. And that's what this place is all about is that's their time here where they can get dirty and it's okay. And we can figure out how small things can be used to make big, beautiful plants and help them grow. We don't need all these different fancy materials. You can go into a recycling bin and find water bottles and there's your watering can.

- [Rita] Okay.

- And you can make it last for a long time. But they really enjoy just getting their hands in the dirt. We found that the hands are probably the best tool. So you'll see, in some of the keyhole beds you'll see the teacher's names and that's how the kids know, "That's my bed."

- [Rita] Okay.

- [Sarah] And then they usually remember their spot. They're very good at going to the exact spot that they planted. And that's their spot for this whole six week program.

- [Rita] That's wonderful.

- [Sarah] It's very funny.

- That's wonderful. And when they first come out, what do they do? Do they stand there and look a little bit afraid, or do they just jump right in and start doing stuff?

- They do, they stand and they observe, and we appreciate that. I think that's how the teachers prep them before they come into the garden.

- [Rita] Okay.

- But you can tell they're very ready to get their hands on the dirt.

- Such beautiful zinnias here for the children to enjoy. And Sarah and Mary Ann, I know most directors of anything, they have hopes and dreams for the future.

- We'd love to see more community members come out, like our boys and girl scouts. And Mary Ann and I have come up with programs that help other mothers with young children come out called Coffee and Muffins. And they can come out and play and the moms can interact and we can help weed.

- [Rita] Like, can I just show up? I don't have a kid, but I have a grandkid. Can I come with my grandchild?

- [Sarah] Please. Yes.

- [Rita] Okay.

- [Sarah] Anybody is welcome. We encourage more and more people to come and help and be involved in God's Little Acre. There is a process. People who want to volunteer with children, but just to be a volunteer, you can be anybody who wants to come. All is welcome.

- Okay, great. And how will they follow you? How will they know, like, when the workdays are and how to get involved?

- There's word of mouth, and then Mary Ann also created an Instagram page for those to stay connected online. So if you go and follow FFUMC God's Little Acre, you'll see all that we're up to, where we're meeting, when we're meeting. Where is here, but when is on the Instagram page as well.

- Okay, cool. And adult's leaders, do you have to be vetted, like through the church or whatever. So that's another safety net.

- Yes.

- Okay, so Mary Ann, what about you? What are your hopes and dreams?

- I think we need to get an herb garden in here for sure. It's kind of our lacking spot. And just a thriving garden and enough volunteers to make that happen.

- Yeah. Okay. Well, we thank you so much for letting us come today to this beautiful space designed for children and to encourage them in connecting with the earth and also in spiritual ways. So, thank you for taking your time out to be here. And you've both got active four-year-olds, and so we know your time is precious, but we appreciate it.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Well, we love our trees in Nashville, and we especially love big trees and interesting trees. And so I'm here today with Vicki Turner with the Nashville Tree Foundation to talk about this great new contest. Now, for almost 30 years they've had the Big Old Tree Contest. But what have we added this year, Vicki?

- Well, our executive director, Becca Morris, added two new categories. One is a story tree and the other is unique trees. And this would be a unique tree. I discovered it when I came to the opening celebration of the pollinator garden here at Portland Pollinator Patch Park. That's a lot of Ps.

- [Julie] Well, let's get over here and look at this tree and talk about some of its wonderful features.

- Okay. I came to witness the pollinator garden, but how could I not notice this very, very unusual silver maple. It's totally hollow and it has an intricate sort of tessellated design, but it's also perfectly healthy.

- [Julie] Absolutely, and I think sometimes we worry about trees when they start to hollow out. But this is a great example of the tenacity of this tree and the way it's causing all kinds of great habitat to form.

- [Vicki] Yes, absolutely. All the nutrition for the tree travels up and down this area. So really, the core of the tree is surplus. I mean, it can be surplus as demonstrated by this beautiful silver maple.

- Well, it's so much fun when trees hollow out and you never know what you'll find in there.

- Yeah. This is a tree that if you could get inside, you could say, "I've hugged many a tree in my life, but I've never had one hug me back."

- Well, Vicki, I understand that if we wanna take a hike, there is a really fantastic tree.

- Well, that's true. Ranger Jason Allen nominated a willow at Long Hunter State Park. And this willow is right on the edge of the lake and the limb makes a W, which of course stands for willow. So all I can imagine, and I have seen this tree, is that the limb was somewhat bent down and then naturally sprouted up, and then bent down again and still sprouting up and now it's going out. So it makes a perfect W, which is highly appropriate for a willow tree.

- [Julie] Oh, and it sounds like a fun tree to climb on. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But a little hard to get to.

- All right, well, next time we're out in the park, we'll have to go hike for it.

- Sounds good.

- [Vicki] Vicki, this is one of my favorite most fun trees, and I understand that you nominated it.

- I did, Julie. I was actually on my way to nominate a catalpa at the apartment complex next door. And I parked over here and I was taking a shortcut, and this Osage orange tree couldn't be missed.

- Well, I love this type of tree. I love it for its monkey brains, hedge apples, mock oranges, whatever you want to call them I think they're fantastic. Not everybody does, but I love them. And the form of this tree is just so graceful and inviting.

- It is, and it almost looks like it's taking a nap to me. A long, long, long, long nap.

- [Julie] Well, the history of this property having been a school, so I could certainly see kids hanging out in this tree, sitting there and reading books, maybe falling asleep on it, climbing on it.

- [Voiceover] Yes. Actually, this is a tree I could climb.

- Well, of course the most recognizable characteristic of this tree is the big balls that it drops. But also tell us some of these other things we see here.

- There are very few trees I can identify from bark alone. I'm very dependent on leaves. But this bark has a very distinctive orange color to it. And I have also been told by the man that does my chainsaw work in the country that this is the densest wood of all. And when he gets a work order to cut down an Osage orange tree, he brings three chainsaws. It's that hard on the chain.

- [Julie] Okay, this is both a big tree and a unique tree.

- Yes, indeed. I was literally looking for a pretty spot to have a sandwich and saw this enormous chinkapin oak, which of course I had to nominate for a big tree. And while I was nominating it, the owner, Mike Luckett, came out and helped me hold the measuring tape because it was so big it took two people to measure it. And he went on to tell me that the entire top of this tree was taken out by a storm, probably that terrible tornado we had in the late '90s. And after he bought the house, he had an arborist come out to check the help of this tree. It turns out this tree is completely hollow and it's in fine health. And then Mike also told me that there's a family of owls that live in the hollow cavity. So really, this tree qualifies for a story tree, a unique tree, and a big old tree.

- Oh my gosh, how fantastic. I just love the shape of it. Ugh! I love everything about it. Now, one thing I always find very interesting is that you have what you expect as an oak leaf, and what we all recognize, and then you have the chinkapin oak leaf.

- [Vicki] Correct.

- [Julia] So that people don't get fooled and can identify it right away.

- [Vicki] Well done.

- Once you see it, you know it.

- That's right, that's right.

- Now, one of the neat things about keeping these trees in that story about it being hollow is that so many people are fearful of trees when they do start to hollow out. And certainly, you wanna make sure it's not a danger, but the habitat benefit of a tree that's hollowing is amazing.

- Absolutely. Well output.

- Now, let's talk just a little bit about how everybody can participate in this. So, I'm out walking along and I see a big old tree, or I see a unique tree, what do I do next besides just like, you know, text you real fast?

- [Vicki] You can go to the Nashville Tree Foundation website. And we have a category for the Big Old Tree Contest and there is an application. You can either print it and mail it in, or you can fill it out online. All you have to really do is give the owner's name and the location. You don't even have to identify it if you're not sure. You don't have to measure it. That's what our people come in and do. In fact, even if you do identify it and you do measure it, we're gonna send our people to make sure you're right. And so we'll end up with a bunch of nominations. And then each tree just competes within its own species. So this tree only competed against chinkapin oaks, silver maples just compete against silver maples. Except of course this year we have two new categories, story tree and a unique tree. And so we can have overlap.

- [Julie] Fantastic. And what time of year do we really need to start getting our applications together?

- [Vicki] Okay. The applications were due in, I think the end of October. And I think we give you like three months leeway. But really, you can send your application in any time of the year. We're not gonna throw it away.

- This is fantastic. You know, I've long been enamored of the really big trees. And I always remember as a kid growing up and seeing those really interesting trees, and so I'm so happy that they have their own category and can compete. And I think we all need to go out and look for those unique trees and to find those trees that have a story.

- [Vicki] I love it.

- Stepping into a vision, a vision of beauty that a garden that has beautiful sights and wonderful sounds, and speaking with Marsha Smith in Guthrie, Kentucky, a very small town. Tell us, Marsha, about what your vision was and your garden dream for this area, your home?

- Well, Annette, when we moved here in 2000, this was all bare back here. And I decided that if we put in the fountain and the hardscape, then I would start from there. I wanted to do the whole back all the way around, but I knew that was gonna be a lot of maintenance. So now I have it, and it isn't that much maintenance. It's easy to take care of because most of it's perennials and it comes back every year.

- Well, and I just know that you have lots of shade in here, but you've used it very wisely with your choice of plants, and even from the liriope to your Japanese maple, like this beautiful one that we're standing under. Right here is a picturesque example of just what plant material, it's simple, can be. Your dogwood tree, that is just beautiful. It is white.

- [Marsha] Yes.

- [Annette] I can imagine that in the spring when it's just really nothing but the green of the pine needles.

- [Marsha] It is beautiful.

- Tell us about your-

- Okay, my hydrangeas, typically they bloom every year like this. But the last couple of years have been, the winter's been hard on 'em, you know? And this year they've been spectacular. Just spectacular.

- [Annette] We have stepped into the sunlight. Marsha,

- [Marsha] Yes?

- This is a very impressive area that you started here. Give us the beginning of it and what you have accomplished with your hardscapes and what you have in here.

- Okay, well this garden started out, I thought maybe 12 by 12 would do it. But as my husband helped me with this, I was like, "I'm sorry, but it's gonna have to be 24 by 24". Because it's gonna have to be in four quadrants, and that's what it is. It's four quadrants with the statue in the middle. And in each quadrant it has a nandina in the center. And then it has eight lilies, day lilies, they are day lilies, in each quadrant. And then I have the box woods on the outside. On each corner we have another green needle.

- [Annette] Yeah, this is the dwarf Alberta spruce

- [Marsha] Yes.

- [Annette] that you have put here on the corners. And if we can imagine on a day like this, but let's think about next December the 25th.

- [Marsha] Okay.

- [Annette] And what you have here is still a beautiful garden because you have the corners anchored, you have the beautiful domestic nandinas that will have the red berries. You have your statuary.

- [Marsha] It is, and that's what I wanted, Annette. When I looked out my window, it's in my den, I wanted to be able to find, to feel like I was still a gardener even in December and January.

- [Annette] And I know a perfect example of something that you have to live on as a memory are some hydrangea that you have here in this garden.

- [Marsha] These hydrangeas were a gift to me when my mother passed away from my customers, friends, family. I got these three hydrangeas and I planted these together for a reason because they remind me of my mother. And she had two sisters that were really dear to her that she loves so much and they're all in heaven enjoying life. And the garden's there.

- [Annette] And I planted weeds.

- [Marsha] I call this one Mary Catherine. I call this one Nelly. And the third one I call Jenny. And they have just been a great gift to me because they've just bloom and the blooms are so vibrant.

- [Annette] Just to know that I'm standing here with the gardener and to know her hands have gone in to the rearranging and the moving and everything, shall we say the blood, sweat, and tears.

- [Marsha] Absolutely. Absolutely.

- [Annette] And you've done a wonderful job, and I'm glad to know that you've preserved the integrity of this older home by this type of a garden.

- [Marsha] Thank you.

- [Annette] We've enjoyed it, it's been a joy. It's been a joy.