Hershey Gardens has a wonderful Children's Garden area which has 32 themed garden areas and a seasonal Butterfly House. We allowed Lillian to explore this area out of her stroller, although I did carry her most of the time in the Butterfly House so she wouldn't grab the butterflies that were covering the flowers.
The gates to the Children's Garden set the tone with these whimsical sculptures. I wouldn't mind these ants at a picnic.
And this has to be one of the happiest bees I've ever seen. Just look at that smile!
Inside the Butterfly House this butterfly asks "Are you my Mother?"
Please note, although they do provide an butterfly identification brochure for use while in the Butterfly House, I was holding Lillian in one arm and snapping pictures with the other. So I will refrain from identifying any of these flying beauties. I'm sure I could take the time to look up the names on the internet, that goldmine of information, but for me, just enjoying the pretty pictures is enough. At least for now, maybe someday I will look them up and identify them all.
Lillian was getting ready to grab this one, I had to race over and scoop her up to prevent butterfly homicide.While I am just showing the Butterfly stage of these delightful creatures, the whole lifecycle was represented. Several volunteers staffed the Butterfly House, ready to explain anything about the various stages of the lifecycle or help identify the various species.
Outside the Butterfly House was this fountain area with striking cannas and fountain grass.
Here is the fountain. It was great fun watching the ball spin in the ever changing vertical stream of water.
One of the themed garden areas was the River-Banker's Picnic secluded nook. I just loved these "toad stools".
The other themed areas include a pretzel maze made of not too difficult hedgerows to navigate. The path was brown tile with large pieces of quartz - the salt of the pretzel! There was also an Alphabet Boarder, with a plant to represent each of the twenty-six letters. The Spa-Tacular Garden has a claw foot bathtub planted with all sorts of soothing varieties. And one of my favorites was the Botanical Tunes Garden, complete with giant xylophone and floor chimes to jump on.
This Children's Garden is a delight for children of all ages and a must see when visiting Hershey Gardens. They do close the Butterfly House in the fall though. None of the butterflies are harmed, they are allowed to live out there lives in this butterfly utopia and only when none are left, is the structure taken down so it isn't damaged by the Pennsylvanian snows.
