Devon and his love of gardening!! (as told by his mom, Alison)

When Devon turned 8 years old he received his first lawnmower.  Granted it was just a roller mower, but there were lots of eyebrows raised and questions asked about the suitability of this gift for an eight year old, given that most other boys his age were into Ben 10 and the like. When he turned 9, Devon used some of his birthday money to buy himself a leaf blower and a rake.  And for this past Christmas we succumbed to upgrading his roller mower with a replacement electric powered lawnmower and weed-eater, after much begging and pleading from our avid gardener.

Devon has an undiagnosed syndrome, and is developmentally delayed as a result.  His ability to speak is severely challenged, but this does not stop him from using his love of gardening as a means of crossing these barriers to “communicate” with others.  Devon has befriended gardeners everywhere – at his school, in our local park, at his brother’s golf club – in fact anywhere that there is a patch of garden that needs to be cared for, Devon makes a buddy and gets stuck into the gardening task at hand.

Devon is absolutely passionate about gardening, and has been from a very early age.  Where there’s a wheelbarrow or a spade….that’s where you’ll find Dev! So it’s not surprising that that was the theme chosen for the cupcakes Lisa was asked to bake to celebrate Devon’s 10^th birthday.

It was great to do these garden themed cupcakes for Devon’s 10th birthday as Alison was so enthusiastic and trusting about what I could do with this theme. Sun hats off to you Alison for nurturing such a wonderful passion in your son.  The sugar paste wellington boots, spades, wheelbarrows, flower pots and flowers are perfect for any garden enthusiast and I added the small trucks carrying stones to some of Devon’s cupcakes as Devon also has a passion for trucks and diggers.  The stones are candy-coated chocolate that I sourced from Sunrise Sweets  and I used grass-green vermicelli for the grass on the cupcakes.  Photographed here on a gorgeous sunny day these cupcakes completely lifted my spirit and I am sure that is why Devon finds such peace in nature’s gardens everywhere.  I haven’t met Devon yet but was so pleased when Alison sent me a picture of him holding his box of cupcakes ready to take to his school friends as I knew I had another delighted customer. Needless to say Devon’s 4 gardening buddies at his school were the first to receive a garden cupcake from him on his birthday.  Happy Gardening Devon and   may the force of nature be with you!