A Dragon's Garden for Children (Toothy, Pointy, Spiny Plants!)

By Steven Biggs

Kids Gardening…with Fun Themes

dragon garden for children thumbnail showing 'dragon tongue' beans

A dragon-themed garden never occurred to me.

It was Finn’s idea.

Finn and him mom came to my daughter Emma’s talk about gardens for children.

She told the kids they didn’t have to garden like grown ups. They could make their gardens fun.

  • Grow a tickling garden with plants that are good for tickling

  • A purple garden

  • Or a giant’s garden with giant sunflowers and mammoth pumpkins

Then Emma told the kids about one of her favourite plants that year: a bean with unusual markings called ‘Dragon Tongue.’

Finn Decides on a Theme Garden

The next morning Finn’s mom sent us a note. He loved the ‘Dragon Tongue’ bean. He loved dragons.

So he decided he’d grow a dragon-themed garden.

Dragon Tongue beans in a garden for children

Dragon Tongue beans for a dragon-themed garden. (Photo by Emma Biggs)

Emma and I loved Finn’s idea.

So we scoured seed websites for dragon-themed plants. Here’s what we came up with:

  • Dragon’s Egg cucumber

  • Purple Dragon carrot

  • Red Dragon arugula

  • Dragon’s Fire arugula

  • Tongue of Fire bean

  • Snapdragon…and there are so many sizes and colours

  • Dragon’s Toe pepper

  • Green Dragon cucumber

  • Thai Dragon hot pepper

  • Blue Dragon dracocephalum

  • Flower Dragon watermelon

  • Black Dragon coleus

Taking the Dragon Idea Further

Then we thought about how we’d describe a dragon. We came up with ideas like spiny, toothy, winged, and pointy.

That helped us find even more plant ideas for the dragon-themed garden:

Litchi tomato for spiny skin!

Litchi tomato for spiny skin!

  • Toothy. (An agave looks pretty toothy to my imagination. Or, if you want to stretch things, dandelion comes from French—dent-de-lion—which means "lion's tooth.” I even found a daylily called ‘Snaggle Tooth.’)

  • Long and pointy for the tail. (Corn? …I’ll let the kids brainstorm this one.)

  • Leathery or spiny for dragon-like skin. (I’m picturing citrus rind here; and Litchi Tomato would be perfect!)

  • Serpent-like shape. (I think snake gourds might work!)

  • Wings (How about a winged bean, angel wing begonia…or maybe something with winged seeds such as maple?)

I’m sure there are lots more plants with a dragon connection. E-mail us if you have any to add to the list!

Another Themed Garden

Check out the picture below of the harvest from Emma’s rainbow-themed garden.

picture of the harvest from a rainbow garden for children

A Rainbow-themed garden, from the book Gardening with Emma.

More theme ideas:

  • Pizza garden

  • Salsa garden

  • Bug’s garden (maybe include logs and rocks that kids can lift up to hunt for bugs)

More Ideas for a Garden for Children

Kids Gardening Articles and Interviews

Kids Gardening Books

Want fun books to inspire the kids in your life to explore the garden? Here are kids gardening books, signed by the author, Emma Biggs.

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