Designing gardens for budding nature lovers

Debbie Brophy, winner of Super Garden and designer of the ‘Bee Happy’ Wildlife Garden at Bord Bia Bloom 2025, is passionate about designing gardens for children. Here she offers advice on creating engaging outdoor spaces that will grow with your family.  

Whether designing a garden for toddlers, tweens, or teenagers, it’s imperative that you consider everyone’s needs now, and as your family grows, so that your outdoor space will continue to provide enjoyment for many years to come. Combining fun and educational elements for children with beautiful, considered, grown-up features will help to encourage everyone to spend time outdoors together.  

When choosing plants, look for options that provide seasonal interest so there is something to enjoy all year round. Pollinator-friendly plants are crucial in supporting the environment and help to teach the next generation about the importance of pollinators. You can encourage wildlife into your garden with bird houses, bug hotels, and hedgehog houses, all of which can be made with recycled materials in fun, crafting projects. You’ll find plenty of tutorials online to help you get started. 

Choosing plants that engage the five senses of sight, sound, taste, smell and touch is another way of enticing children to interact with nature but make sure to avoid plants that are considered toxic if your children (or pets!) are at the stage where they like to taste everything. The Poisons Information Centre of Ireland, which sponsored The Know, Act, Prevent Garden at Bord Bia Bloom 2023, has published this helpful guide to toxic plants. 

Safety is crucial with young children, especially if there are times when they might be outside playing while you are indoors. Accessibility should be considered so watch out for trip hazards and try to design a space where children can move, run, cycle, or skate freely. Avoid pools of water – you can still have a water feature but opt for one that recirculates from a reservoir. Alternatively, you can create interactive music or water funnel boards for walls using old or thrifted saucepans, pots and pipes. Something simple like a rain drum brings a garden alive with the sound of music. 

Big ideas for small spaces 

If you don’t have a garden – no problem! You can create an outdoor oasis for children in the smallest of spaces. If you have a balcony or terrace, choose compact or folding furniture to make the most of the space. Hanging pots, a growing wall system, or trellis can create a vertical garden which will fit a surprising number of plants. Succulents and herbs are a great option for mini gardens in a window box, and a multi-layered pot can look fabulous with an evergreen shrub or flowers underneath and some trailing plants to cascade over the side.  

While it’s November and winter is setting in, there is still time to plant spring bulbs. Get the children involved and they will be delighted to see the first shoots emerge as spring dawns. Come March, they can start sowing herb, fruit and vegetable seeds and this is a brilliant, cost-effective way to involve your young people in nature and teach them about growing and preparing their own food. Children love potting and watering! All you need is some compost, a pot, a few seeds, and a sunny location on a balcony or patio and you have a fun and educational activity to entertain the family in the months to come. 

My garden in the community 

These elements, and more, were incorporated in my ‘Bee Happy’ Wildlife Garden at Bloom 2025 and I was delighted that they were rehomed in my local community after the festival. The chalkboards, strawberry planter, smaller bug hotels, and some plants were moved to The Curragh Montessori where they have been incorporated into the outdoor play area. Meanwhile, the structural elements, trees and other plants have been relocated to the Newbridge Family Resource Centre where we worked on the design of a new layout together. Thanks to the volunteers who help in the garden, we have rebuilt and planted the flowerbeds, rebuilt the moon gate, and are now working on the covered pergola.  

I am delighted that I got the opportunity to rehome the garden. Nothing was thrown away which stands to the sustainable ethos of Bord Bia Bloom. It brings me great joy that children and families will continue to enjoy the elements of my first Bloom Show Garden in the years to come. 

Debbie Brophy won RTÉ’s garden design challenge, Super Garden, earning the opportunity to design a Show Garden at Bord Bia Bloom 2025. She recently opened a small nursery, Laurel Hill Garden, at her garden in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. You can learn more about Debbie at laurelhillgardens.ie and follow her @laurelhillgarden.