Even in the dead of winter, the Children’s Garden in Elwood is yielding fruit.
The 1-acre garden, whose various plots are devoted to such children’s fancies as Peter Rabbit, the alphabet and pizza, has been captured on canvas and is on its way to Washington to be displayed outside the U.S. Botanic Garden.
Pupils at Elwood School recently took turns painting their favorite parts of the Children’s Garden, which they’ve also tended and helped to design through a grant from the National Gardening Association.
Having the picture displayed near the Capitol “is a big deal because the kids had worked hands-on at the garden, and it left an impression on them that now is becoming part of history in Washington,” Principal Cheryl O’Leary said.
The painting of the Elwood Children’s Garden will hang with paintings from 275 other schools and youth groups across the country, said David Young, director of the youth garden grants program for the National Gardening Association.
The paintings will be displayed along a fence erected around a massive renovation of the National Garden and Conservatory.
The effort has been one more outgrowth of educator Donna Banas’ vision for the Children’s Garden, which she started a year ago in an open field near the school in the far southwest suburb of Elwood.
“It’s to see the faces on the children and adults when they come to the garden, to see how pleased they are and how calm they become when they look around,” said Banas, an early-childhood educator at Moraine Valley Community College.
“This is a learning garden from physical to emotional,” she added. “We try to get children to think critically.”
For the painting project, pupils submitted 145 sketches of what they thought were the most beautiful sections of the garden.
Entries included the Peter Rabbit Garden, where kindergartners planted vegetables for the storybook character; the round “Pizza Garden,” designed by kids in “slices” planted with tomatoes, peppers, onion, basil and other fixings; the Moon Garden, where white flowers appear to glow; and the Alphabet Garden, where plants range from asters to zinnias.
A panel that included Banas, O’Leary and local artist Phyllis Bartels narrowed the choices. Then pupils took over again, picking out their favorite elements.
Stacy Sasser, 12, and Dan Sopko, 11, sketched the ideas in pencil first, and Bartels showed them how to transfer the art to a 30-by-24-inch canvas.
Younger students filled in the sky, grass and ground, Sasser said. Then she and Sopko painted in the details of the garden.
“It only took a few hours to draw and two days to paint,” Sopko said. “It took longer to paint because we never painted on canvas with acrylic paint before.”
As she looked over the finished work, Sasser said, “The garden is a good place to be by yourself, to run around or just feel good to be outdoors in a clean, bright place.
“We couldn’t completely capture the beauty of the garden because it’s way too nice to be put in a picture,” she said. “But at least the picture gives people the idea of what the garden is.”
Sasser and Sopko said they were proud that their town of 1,100 residents would be represented in Washington.
“Now we know Elwood and other small places can be just as beautiful as bigger cities and parks,” Sopko said.
The official opening of the display is scheduled for the spring.
“If any of the kids has a chance, on a summer vacation with their family or something, to see their art posted in this place, it would be really impressive to them,” Young said.
“Gardening can connect all areas of the (school) curriculum,” he said. “Kids are learning so many different subjects through gardens. It’s not just planting seeds.”
