Grow a Prehistoric Garden
If you need a place just for your T-Rex to hang out you might plant a prehistoric garden right in your own backyard. And use exactly the same plants that grew on the earth 300 million years ago.
First, have an adult help you choose a site in a shady corner of the yard. Dig a nice big dinosaur bed and add lots of organic amendment because primitive plants especially need humus to grow. Once you choose a site and dig up the ground real good, make a wide path through the garden with gravel or bark so you and a friend can get inside.
Now it's time to shop for plants. Plants that grew when the pterodactyls flew are:
| Everyday Name |
Scientific Name |
Period |
| Horsetail |
Equistem |
Paleozoic |
| Sago Palm |
Cycad |
Paleozoic |
| Maidenhair Tree |
Ginko biloba |
Paleozoic |
| Norfolk Island pine |
Araucaria |
Jurassic |
| Tree Fern |
Cyathea |
Jurassic |
| Zebra Grass |
Miscanthus |
Jurassic |
| Fig |
Ficus |
Cretaceous |
| Calla Lily |
Zantedeschia |
Cretaceous |
| Heavenly Bamboo |
Nandina |
Cretaceous |
Also plant sedge grasses and as many ferns as you can fit with names like: button fern, birds nest fern and cinnamon fern. Add a few low growing junipers here and there so smaller dinosaurs have a place to hide.
For finishing touches to your Paleozoic Park add: a small bowl buried up to the rim and filled with water (a pool for predators) and a few big rocks that you've found (paint one like a volcano.) Finally, mulch the garden with small bark or mulch (smells like chocolate) to keep you and your buddies clean. |
