It just struck me as so bright and cheerful. I wanted to see if there was more garden behind the building, said Barbara Nielsen, who lives in Baton Rouge. Nielsen scouts gardens and writes for Better Homes and Gardens special interest magazines.

The January edition of Garden Ideas and Outdoor Living features a story by Nielsen with photographs by Baton Rouge photographer Chipper Hatter on the McMains center gardens.

McMains is an outpatient center for children through 18 years of age who may have conditions that include cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, sensory processing disorders, speech and learning disabilities, autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Nielsen wasnt disappointed by what she found behind the building. A playground arranged on an all-weather surface is bordered by planting beds designed for children in wheelchairs, children of different heights and children on crutches or who must lean against sturdy constructions for support.

Brothers and sisters of McMains clients are free to play outside rather than wait indoors. Parents walk by flower and vegetable beds and a long bed of roses on the way to a gazebo which is a favorite place for parents to read or talk.

As much as the centers children enjoy getting their hands dirty and watching the progress of flowering plants and vegetables, the McMains gardens offer something else.

I see two great benefits, said speech therapist Ellen Thomas. When children say they want to go outside, their parents take them to a park. We offer a different outside. The other thing is this is something our children can do that they see other people doing.

The brains of children with cerebral palsy are at odds with the childrens muscles and hand-eye coordination.

The brain has a heightened reaction, said physical therapist Shelly Worthington.

When a CP child reaches for a garden trowel, his brain may conspire to throw him backward.

Gardening seems to reduce the effect, Worthington said.

The weathers nice. The child feels good, hes relaxed, and the response is relaxed.

The well-kept, in-ground beds and the beds designed to be worked standing or sitting are the work of many people, chief among them a McMains social worker named Nancy Broyles, husband Allen, an LSU AgCenter research associate, and Al Hindrichs, an environmental scientist, husband of a McMains staff member and wordworking virtuoso.

The Broyleses, who are Master Gardeners, have put hundreds of hours into the garden. Nancy Broyles always has an eye to such labor-saving devices as an automatic watering system and green houses.

Some day, Ill retire, Broyles said. Wholl do all this? Not everyones as into gardening as we are. There are so many wonders in all this. This is a happy outdoors. It gives people a feeling of peace and hope.

What Broyles can conceive for the gardens, husband Allen or some other volunteer can usually deliver.

Free plants are one of the big things that Allen Broyles, through the Burden Research Center, provides for the McMains gardens.

Burdens researchers propagate plants from seeds and cuttings in trial beds year-round. After trials, some of the plants, which Broyles says would be discarded, find their way to McMains.

Hindrichs was up to the challenge of designing and building flower and vegetable beds for McMains children. Hindrichs is a veteran of seven, spring canoe trips with the children.