zinnia, cosmos, nasturtium, marigold

ditto on the above choices. I had marigold babies within three days for my son to bring in to his kindergarten class and share.

If she is taking it home with her you can also put it in a clear plastic cup and she will be able to see the roots grow. =)

I've only grown Zinnias from tastefullyjulie's list. However, they literally came up in _under_ 48 hours this year.

Here is a link that might be useful: My garden blog

Thanks all. I really like the clear plastic cup idea. I also discovered the "Gardening with Kids" forum. Thanks so much. Nancy

Here is a link that might be useful: For the Kids

What about edible sprouts? Mung bean, alfalfa, wheat grass & others are available at health food stores, are cheap, & can be oftentimes bought in small quantity. Some of them take 2 weeks to do complete, but you can start the sprouting process. Just experiment a bit before she comes to visit you.

Green or Wax Beans are very fast. Also second the Marigolds. Make sure you have fresh seed or properly stored seed.

Have fun!

Morning Glory "Grandpa Ott", when soaked overnight before planting and kept warm after planting, routinely germinates in 48 hours for me :)

My 7-yo son was fascinated to hear that "once upon a time" there really was a Grandpa Ott, too.

Kristin

Slip some beans and corn down the sides of a clear plastic cup and one can see the roots and the shoots with the bean being forced up out of the soil and the corn staying down in the soil with only the shoots coming up through the surface. A monocotyledon vs dicotyledon thing. Interestingly some children seem to like these big words.

Hyacinth Bean vine! I planted them on Sunday afternoon, on Tuesday, lots of them are up!

Janie

Hi, I need to find a flower that would grow really fast. I saw that the Zinnias are fast to germinate, but how much time would it take to get an open flower from a seed? Thanks for any advice. Vincent

I only did Convolvulus 2 years, but they always popped up in 3 days. Very satisfying flower for kids (with all the colors).

Sorry, I can't remember how long it took them to make flowers. It usually does take awhile to get flowers from seeds (they sit there with the first seed leaves and nothing else for a week at least).

Impatiens bloom when pretty young and small, I guess they are the fastest to flower that I've had.

For the OT: my cinnamon basil came up in two days:) I don't know if this was an anomaly, though, as the packet said to expect seven to fourteen!