This week's Outdoor Hour Challenge is to begin an 8-week focus study on garden flowers. We have LOTS of those, so it's a little overwhelming to figure out where to start! There are several listed in the Handbook of Nature Study that we have growing in our gardens, but we've missed the bloom time of a few - like our irises - and we're still waiting on others.
We've actually already been planting some new plants and flowers over the past month, and Kathryn specifically took charge of the asters because they are her birth-month flower. So we've been watching to see what those are doing, but they won't bloom for quite a while. We also picked out a few seeds to plant, but since we're expecting a hard rain later today, we decided to wait on the ones to plant directly into the flower beds so they don't get washed away; we'll start those in another day or two. Kathryn is excited that we found baby's breath seeds to try, and I'm eager to try growing some canterbury bells. We did go ahead and plant a few purple coneflower seeds in a pot this morning (gotta love botany in pajamas!), so we'll be watching to see what those do.
Although we have a wide variety of flowers to choose from, we ended up chosing the white clovers growing here and there in our lawn to begin this study! So yesterday, we found several patches of white clover, and picked and examined some. Kathryn says they smell like roses; they do have a much sweeter smell than I've ever previously noticed. It's wonderful how taking time for nature study not only teaches Kathryn, but also forces me to pay attention to things I hadn't noticed, or maybe just forgot. Picking the clovers reminded me of making clover chains when I was a child during recess at school, so I showed Kathryn how to do it. She promptly made (with my help) a clover necklace and bracelet to wear.
After we were back inside, we read about white clover, and inspected the clover heads with a magnifying glass. I was fascinated to learn that once the little flowers on the clover head (actually made up of lots of tiny flowers) are pollenated, they turn downward, thereby saving the bees much time and energy because only the still-to-be-pollinated flowers point upwards. How cool is that!?! God's creativity and attention to detail never cease to amaze me. Kathryn drew a little picture of a clover flower and a clover leaf, and added that to her nature journal. A little later, she went back outside to play and picked a whole BUNCH of clovers, which she tied into together using a piece of grass. She brought the little bouquet in and presented it to me as an early mother's day present. (C'mon now, everybody say, "awwww, how sweet"!)
We're looking forward to more flower study in the coming weeks. And again, thanks to Barb and her new nature journal blog for these great ideas!
We've actually already been planting some new plants and flowers over the past month, and Kathryn specifically took charge of the asters because they are her birth-month flower. So we've been watching to see what those are doing, but they won't bloom for quite a while. We also picked out a few seeds to plant, but since we're expecting a hard rain later today, we decided to wait on the ones to plant directly into the flower beds so they don't get washed away; we'll start those in another day or two. Kathryn is excited that we found baby's breath seeds to try, and I'm eager to try growing some canterbury bells. We did go ahead and plant a few purple coneflower seeds in a pot this morning (gotta love botany in pajamas!), so we'll be watching to see what those do.
Although we have a wide variety of flowers to choose from, we ended up chosing the white clovers growing here and there in our lawn to begin this study! So yesterday, we found several patches of white clover, and picked and examined some. Kathryn says they smell like roses; they do have a much sweeter smell than I've ever previously noticed. It's wonderful how taking time for nature study not only teaches Kathryn, but also forces me to pay attention to things I hadn't noticed, or maybe just forgot. Picking the clovers reminded me of making clover chains when I was a child during recess at school, so I showed Kathryn how to do it. She promptly made (with my help) a clover necklace and bracelet to wear.
After we were back inside, we read about white clover, and inspected the clover heads with a magnifying glass. I was fascinated to learn that once the little flowers on the clover head (actually made up of lots of tiny flowers) are pollenated, they turn downward, thereby saving the bees much time and energy because only the still-to-be-pollinated flowers point upwards. How cool is that!?! God's creativity and attention to detail never cease to amaze me. Kathryn drew a little picture of a clover flower and a clover leaf, and added that to her nature journal. A little later, she went back outside to play and picked a whole BUNCH of clovers, which she tied into together using a piece of grass. She brought the little bouquet in and presented it to me as an early mother's day present. (C'mon now, everybody say, "awwww, how sweet"!)We're looking forward to more flower study in the coming weeks. And again, thanks to Barb and her new nature journal blog for these great ideas!
