Playing is what childhood is all about. Making a place to play in the garden inspires kids and sets them an example for the rest of their lives. Even in a tiny backyard, there is plenty of room for children to play, and for adults to have a good time, too.

There is a lot of play equipment on the market, but you don't have to commit yourself to fancy installations that look like a three-ring circus, says Lolly Tai, a landscape architect and professor at Temple University in Ambler, Pennsylvania. Kids really don't need all that. "Kids like height, they like water, they like plants, tree-houses and stepping stones," Tai says. "Give them a little water and sand, and all of a sudden creative play happens." Tai specializes in outdoor environments for kids, particularly in schoolyards and botanic gardens, where kids' gardens have taken off. Plants are part of it, of course, but swinging, sliding, running and splashing all have enormous appeal to kids.

Tai, the author of "Designing Outdoor Environments for Children," recommends taking your entire property into consideration when you're getting ready to add a play space for kids of any age. First, write down all the features you'd like -- a swingset, a treehouse, a sandbox, a vegetable or herb garden, or fragrant plants -- and then figure out where best to place these features within the topography of your yard.

"It takes doing and thinking," she says. Bear in mind the different ways adults and children will share the garden, and try to make them work together. Don't forget comfortable places to sit: The result should be inviting, beautiful and unselfconscious.

"When you design something that looks like it was meant to be there, it flows," Tai says. "You might not be able to tell it was designed, other than it just feels good."

A vegetable garden can most definitely be part of the play area. Raised-bed gardens are especially attractive to kids because they are of an accessible scale. "It's a great way to engage kids with nature and to introduce them to plants and bugs," Tai says. She also recommends providing shelter in a child's garden: You might want to build a tepee with sturdy garden stakes and plant morning glories or pole beans around the base.

Don't make the play area an afterthought of garden design, says Michael Laris, director of product development and strategy for Playworld, which makes imaginative, kidcentric playground equipment. "If your whole backyard is beautiful and the plastic sandbox is just stuck in the corner, what does that say about the hierarchy?" Laris says. "A child has rights like we do to have proper spaces. We should do things beautifully and well for them."

Laris, an architect who specializes in architecture for children, has studied the importance of play and how it helps kids develop critical thinking and respond to problems creatively. Playing also encourages collaboration and helps build compassion, Laris says. Organized sports are great, he says, but they're rule-based: The clock is always running, and, unlike simply playing outdoors, there are "fewer chances of really defining yourself."

Hopping through a garden on stepping stones, splashing in a sprinkler or running a race between the big oak tree and the edge of the patio develop the imagination and the personality in ways organized sports do not.

Take your children to a park or playground, Laris suggests, to see the kinds of play equipment they are interested in. This will help you make age-appropriate choices for your kids in your own backyard. A sandbox is a good starting place for small children. Swinging, sliding and spinning all help challenge and stimulate a child's senses. Grown-ups forget, but "learning to swing is a big thing," Laris says. For adults, the experience of teaching a child to pump his or her legs and swing higher and higher is exhilarating.

If you can, bring the natural world of plants, birds and bugs right up to the swingset or the backyard slide, says Mary Legoria, a science teacher in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who has studied the relationship between kids and plants. Legoria is one of the presenters at the American Horticultural Society's National Children and Youth Garden Symposium in Austin this year.

Bird feeders, birdbaths and unusual plants, such as plants with fuzzy leaves or big, bright flowers, will attract kids' attention and spark their interest in nature, she says. Kids love to grow and eat strawberries, to nibble on mint and parsley and to discover the caterpillars and other insects in the garden. "They're really eager to find out what is going on," she says.

Whatever play space you create in your garden, let your kids jump, shout, tumble and roll all they want there -- or at a public playground. Muddy knees and learning that falling down is not the end of the world are part of the experience of play, Laris says. When kids play outside, they learn about their own abilities, develop balance and grace, and start to find their place in the world.

"Every child plays their way to becoming a human adult," Laris says. If they get dirty, remember this: They're having fun.

SOURCES

-- The American Horticultural Society's annual Children and Youth Garden Symposium is scheduled to be held July 9-11, 2015, in Austin, Texas; ahs.org.

-- Playworld's playground equipment is designed to inspire creative, unstructured play; playworldsystems.com

-- Lolly Tai is the author of "Designing Outdoor Environments for Children" (McGraw Hill, $57).

(For editorial questions, please contact Clint Hooker at chooker@amuniversal.com.)

Garden furniture is taking its cues from living rooms these days. Collapsible tailgate-party chairs and stackable plastic no longer seem graceful enough for back yards and porches, where substantial, good-looking furniture encourages you to take some time off from your busy world.

"I have seen outdoor spaces that look better than indoors," says Lisa Colburn of Rocky Mountain Patio Furniture in Atlanta. Her clients are especially interested in what the professionals call "deep seated" furniture, such as outdoor sofas and lounge chairs. "It's more about chilling than about dining," she says.

Colburn helps customers choose appropriate styles in the store showroom, but she makes house calls, too, stopping by to study a garden's spaces and consider the possible combinations of chairs, sofas, tables, and dining furniture with her clients. "I always ask a lot of questions," she says. "I interview them. What are they trying to accomplish? If you get the right furniture and fabrics, you can entirely change the look of your garden. You can evolve it into anything you want it to be."

Of course, you'll need to measure your porch or patio before you start to shop, but you'll also want to think about how outdoor furniture will look with the architecture of your home. You'll need to take colors, finishes, and fabrics into consideration: how will it all look in your garden landscape?

"Most people go with neutral fabrics on a bigger piece of furniture," Colburn says, and that's smart. "If they want color, I encourage them to think long term. In five years, will you be sick of the bright green sofa?" To add color and style, she suggests snappy pillows or an outdoor rug in a flashy color or a bold graphic print.

Weather is not a factor. Today's cushions and pillows hold their colors in the sun, and resist rain. "Everybody's curious, aren't they going to get filthy and destroyed" in the weather, says Brett Williams, creative director of Williams Ski and Patio in Highland Park, Illinois. The answer is "No": high-quality materials are especially resilient, and even budget pillows are rain resistant these days. You can expect a good year of wear from modestly priced cushions, and many more than that when you invest in the very best back-yard furniture.

Outdoor-furnishing shops usually carry half a dozen or more brands and cater to customers ready to make a fairly considerable purchase, spending perhaps $10,000 or more on outdoor sofas, ottomans, coffee tables and side tables designed to arrange in easy conversational groupings. Prices start at about $1,000 for a table and four chairs at Williams Ski and Patio, Williams says, and go up from there. Big-box stores and import markets are in on the trend, and also sell moderately priced sets.

The best furniture often comes with sticker shock, but these pieces are made to last, says Bew White, president of Summer Classics, a high-end outdoor furniture company that designs and manufactures outdoor furniture in more than 32 different styles and materials. Polyethylene wicker represents almost half of the company's sales, White says. It holds up to sun and rain, even in the brutal outdoor climates of Florida and Arizona. The company's wicker-look "Rustic" furniture line is a bestseller, followed closely by "Croquet," made of durable aluminum that looks like teak but weighs considerably less. Lounge chairs that can pull up to a dining table are popular, too, White says, both for their versatility and their comfort.

All-weather wicker is one of the most popular choices in the Chicago area, Williams says, but high-quality teak remains a classic. If you're on a budget, buy your garden furniture piece by piece, he suggests: you can be sure that high-end furniture will be around for years, so you can add pieces as your budget allows. If you're shopping at a big-box store, on the other hand, you can't depend on this year's designs being available in the future.

The trend in sectional seating is actually very practical, Williams says. These versatile pieces can be re-arranged for large or small groups. He also likes to recommend ottomans, which serve as additional seating in a pinch, and suggests buying side tables and end tables, "because those kinds of accessories help finish the space." A comfortably furnished porch or garden draws you outdoors to relax, even when you're too busy to stop and smell the roses. Just being outside is the main thing.

SOURCES

-- Summer Classics has stores across the South and Southeast, and the company's furniture is available through patio and outdoor furniture shops in the U.S. and Canada and through and mail-order specialists, summerclassics.com

-- Gloster outdoor furniture is available at many porch- and patio-furniture specialists, gloster.us

-- Kingsley-Bate garden furniture is also available at outdoor furniture shops, kingsleybate.com

-- Williams Ski and Patio, Highland Park, Illinois, williamsskiandpatio.com

-- Rocky Mountain Patio Furniture, Sandy Springs, Georgia, rockymountainpatiofurniture.com

(For editorial questions, please contact Clint Hooker at chooker@amuniversal.com.)

This year, there are more reasons than ever to grow your own tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and broccoli. It's a banner year for the introduction of new varieties -- now is a great time to make room for vegetables in your garden, or in a couple of big pots on a patio or balcony.

Vegetable gardeners at every level of experience are looking for two things, says Rob Johnston, the founder of Johnny's Selected Seeds in Albion, Maine. "They want a combination of easy-to-grow and real flavorful results," he says. "They are going to the trouble of having a garden, and they want the result to be something special."

Johnston is a judge for All-America Selections (AAS), which conducts trials of new vegetable and flower introductions at public, professional and university gardens across the country to identify breeders' best work every year. Last year, 28 trial gardens across the country participated in tests of new vegetable varieties. Johnston's credentials are solid -- he has been growing and breeding vegetables for 42 years. Johnny's has introduced more than 60 different vegetable varieties, including the colorful and delicious Bright Lights Swiss chard and, this year, a sweet little butternut squash called Butterscotch. They're both AAS winners.

This year is a banner year for AAS: 25 new vegetable, herb and flower varieties are 2015 award winners, more than any year since 1939. Most of the introductions are vegetables and herbs, and some are the very first winners in their class: This is the first time Brussels sprouts, bok choy, garlic chives and oregano have received AAS recognition.

Gardeners flipping through the catalogs and websites of seed specialists aren't just scouting around for another delicious tomato or cucumber, says Diane Blazek, director of All-America Selections. They want compact plants and heat and drought tolerance, and they're looking for vegetables pretty enough to grow in a flower garden. Vegetable gardeners love beautiful blooms, too, she says, and especially flowers that attract pollinators to their vegetable crops.

The gardeners who plant 40-foot rows of beans or pepper plants are still out there, Blazek says, but breeders have developed squash, cucumbers, beans and many other crops that flourish and produce an impressive harvest in small spaces -- such as Mascotte beans, which are just the right size for a window box, or Patio Baby eggplant, perfect for pots.

"More and more people are growing in containers," Blazek says. "They don't have huge gardens, and they're looking for vegetables that don't take up quite as much room."

Gardeners are also looking for novelty, says Jessie Liebenguth, a horticulturist at Reiman Gardens at Iowa State University and an AAS trial-garden judge. "People want vegetables that they may not be super familiar with, but that are new and fun," she says.

Liebenguth, who has been growing vegetables since she was a child, admits she was surprised when she opened her first box of seeds for an AAS trial season, three years ago. "My jaw dropped, there were so many entries," she says. "People are working hard to develop new, exciting things -- it's encouraging."

The new AAS broccoli winner, Artwork, is grown for its prolific production of side shoots, which increases the yield to weeks instead of just a one-chop harvest. Bopak, the new AAS award-winning bok choy, is great for gardeners interested in a quick crop and in cultivating in flowerpots. It grows to about 2 feet tall and would look great as the centerpiece of a big pot, surrounded by trailing flowers or low-growing herbs.

Liebenguth recommends peppers of various kinds for first-time gardeners looking for an easy crop. Cucumbers and cherry tomatoes are also encouraging crops for novices, she says, because the harvest is impressive and the taste can't be beat.

If you haven't grown vegetables before, start small, she suggests. "Wade in, try a couple of herbs, make a bruschetta garden or a salsa garden." Try mixing vegetables into a flower garden, Liebenguth says, "so it's not one huge, overwhelming space. You can walk along and enjoy your flowers, and you get a snack at the end."

It takes about 10 years to bring a new vegetable to market, Johnston says, but waiting for the next big thing isn't really necessary. With so many great new vegetable varieties already out there, you can scarcely go wrong. And, of course, the best vegetables you'll ever eat are the ones you grow yourself.

SIDEBAR

TOP CROPS

AAS: Since 1932, All-America Selections has recognized top new flower and vegetable varieties. Many of the 270 AAS vegetable winners over the years have become classics: The Celebrity tomato won in 1984 and remains very popular today. Waltham Butternut squash, a 1970 winner, is still one of the best-performing, most disease-resistant and delicious of the butternut squashes.

This year, there are 25 AAS winners, including 17 vegetables and three herbs. Some choice winners include:

-- Avalanche beets, a sweet, mild white beet with edible tops (like all beets). White beets will not turn your fingers red when you prepare them.

-- Artwork broccoli, grown for its prolific production of side shoots.

-- Bossa Nova zucchini, with a pretty, mottled two-tone fruit. It matures early and produces for weeks.

-- Hestia Brussels sprouts, which are particularly cold-tolerant. They're great for a fall garden because the flavor improves after a light frost.

For a complete list of AAS winners and more information, go to all-americaselections.org.

Johnny's Selected Seeds: Johnny's was founded by Rob Johnston in 1973 and has introduced more than 60 vegetable varieties. Johnny's Seeds is one of the top choices for market gardeners, but the company sells seeds and supplies in small quantities for home gardeners, too. Several of the company's introductions are AAS winners. Johnston particularly recommends:

-- Clementine orange cocktail-sized tomatoes. They're a little bigger than cherry tomatoes, with a great flavor and color.

-- Bright Lights Swiss chard, for its delicious taste and colorful stems. Chard is beautiful and easy to grow. Bright Lights is an AAS winner.

-- Butterscotch butternut squash, a 2015 AAS winner. Compact plants produce small fruits, just right for two servings.

-- Salanova lettuce produces a large head that breaks easily into individual leaves, like baby-leaf salad greens but with more flavor and a better texture, since the lettuce is mature.

For more information, go to johnnyseeds.com.

(For editorial questions, please contact Universal Uclick at -uueditorial@amuniversal.com)