Excerpt: Tree Houses and Playhouses

The playhouse, along with its elevated counterpart the tree house, may be the ultimate garden accoutrement, magical and fantastic for children (see page 185). It is a symbol that the world is truly theirs, and doesn’t belong exclusively to the adults. It is reassuring, too, as children comprehend that the adults have created something so absolutely marvelous just for them.

What kids don’t know is that there are those moments when adults happily retreat to the tree house or playhouse to feel secure and private, and enjoy a moment’s nostalgia for their ownchildhoods.

In the garden, the playhouse can be a very decorative feature. It should be given a spot where it’s partially hidden by shrubs and small trees. Since it will be a hangout for kids, site it away from the more formal gardens so their heavy foot traffic doesn’t damage plantings. Enhance it with windowboxes and containers with a variety of flowering and trailing plants. Give it some touches that children will appreciate, such as a wooden shoe hung as a doorknocker, a piece of pipe painted with a checkerboard pattern for a chimney, or shutters with hearts cut out of their centers.

A tree house makes a fantastic and sought-after garden decoration. It is a very appealing sight, not just for children, but for adults as well. Use a paint in a natural color—sand, brown, green—to play off colors of native rocks and plants and to integrate it into the garden’s scheme.

Other playhouses for children can be constructed of young willows planted very close together in a circle or in two opposing rows. As the willows grow, bend the tops of the saplings over and weave them together. They’ll create a hut or tunnel of green that will offer children endless possibilities for play.

Above   This very special garden playhouse, trimmed with rickrack and crowned with a lookout tower, was created by Angus White at Nuthurst in West Sussex, England. Pulleys allow the kids to haul booty of various kinds to the top floor; sturdy railings provide safety on all levels.