Nature Net News
May 2008
Wildflowers
"Gardens and flowers have a way of bringing people together, drawing them from their homes."
Clare Ansberry
Dear Reader, They’re nature’s reward for making
it through the harsh winter – spring wildflowers! Enjoy! Kathe & Betsy |
Many of the common names given to native wildflowers are based on the familiar items they resemble - like Dutchman's breeches which look like pants hung on the line to dry? Other examples include Lady slipper, Virginia bluebell, Bishops cap, Jack-in-the-pulpit and Shooting star. Find more name origins at WildflowerInformation.org. and demystify scientific names at American Meadows.
What to Do This Month:
Take a wildflower hike - on your own or on May 4th with a UW Arboretum guide.
Keep an eye out for budding wildflowers (plus, trees and shrubs) and report your observations to Project Bud Burst.
Celebrate the return of migratory birds with International Migratory Bird Day.
Check Nature Net's Calendar of Events for more family fun this month.
Tricks of the Trail for Parents:
Pick-Me-Not
Perhaps one of the most tempting urges for young children is picking spring wildflowers. The excitement of something new and the vivid colors attract our attention immediately. You might explain to your child if we pick flowers, there won’t be seeds to make next year’s flowers, nor fruits for animals (and sometimes humans) to enjoy. Instead of picking, capture memories by taking photographs. Or, bring a trail notebook for creating sketches with crayons or colored pencils. You may also try bringing color swatches (available from the paint department in your local hardware store) and pasting colors matching your finds into your notebook.
Instant Outdoor Expert:
Flowers in a Flash
This is the time of year for spring ephemeral wildflowers to grace the floors of Wisconsin woodlands. With a perfect balance of temperature, light, moisture, nutrients and a few underground tricks, these short-shift bloomers bring relief to the bleak late-winter landscape.
Ephemeral, when used to describe perennial woodland wildflowers, depicts a plant which develops stems and leaves, quickly blooms, creates seeds and dies back to only its underground parts for the remainder of the year - all in a matter of weeks. These weeks are really a window of opportunity. Spring ephemerals take advantage of a unique time when temperatures heighten above blustering, yet leaves on overhead trees have not filled out to present shade. It's a time when neighboring trees are not yet tapping great amounts of moisture from the soil, and nutrient levels are high thanks to last year's now-decomposed leaves. As the season progresses and these conditions change, the window of opportunity closes and spring ephemerals slip into a dormant stage, relying on underground rhizomes and bulbs to store energy for next years brief but alluring emergence.
Because May temperatures can still dip and, heaven forbid, a snow storm is still a possibility, these delicate wildflowers come prepared. All are low-growing, staying inches above the ground were the warming land tempers the cold and winds are kept at bay. Plus, many, like the Pasque flower and Wild ginger, don a fuzzy coat to help banish the cold; and some, including Mayapples, trap warm air by keeping blooms sheltered beneath their own foliage.
To learn more about these fleeting flowers, check out Nature Smart or Fine Gardening. You can also learn about specific species by taking a virtual wildflower walk (in addition, of course, to actually getting out there) with Wisconsin DNR's EEK Wildflower Walk. Or, look up your finds on the UW-Stevens Point Herbarium website.
Eco-Exercise:
Seed Sprout
Ever think about how much energy is stored in a seed? From that simple casing, an entire plant emerges! Ask your little sprout to curl up and pretend he/she is a seed. Talk through how a seed grows – it sends out roots (stretch legs), and next sends up a shoot (stand tall and stretch arms above head). It grows leaves (stretch fingers wide) and sometimes flowers (lift face upwards). Have your flower bend and sway in the breeze, gently stretching and bending.
Featured Nature Net Site
Nature Craft
Olbrich Botanical Gardens
Olbrich Botanical Gardens' mission is to nourish and share the beauty of gardens, the joy of gardening, the knowledge of plants, and the diversity of our world.
Dedicated to the creation, conservation and interpretation of gardens,
Olbrich offers many outdoor and indoor gardens for the enjoyment and
benefit of the public. Visit some of the many outdoor gardens this
spring to look for native wildflowers. You might spot some at the Meadow
Garden, Rock Garden, Herb Garden, Perennial Garden or, of course, the Wildflower Garden.
Hours: 10am-4pm;
Sundays 10am-5pm
Admission to the Bolz Conservatory is $1 per person, children 5 and under are free. Wednesday and Saturday mornings, 10am-noon are free for everyone. Olbrich Botanical Society members have free entrance to the Conservatory.
Outdoor Display Gardens Hours:
April - September 8am-8pm
Outdoor Gardens are free; donations are appreciated.
Sprouting Necklace
Discover the reward (and learning opportunities) of
sprouting a living fashion accessory.
First, carefully twist a screw eye into the lid of a small plastic jar
(like those that hold spices, vitamins or cake decorations). Create a
pilot hole with a pushpin, if necessary. Braid some colored string for
the lanyard and thread it through the screw eye, making
sure the loop can fit over your head. Now, moisten about 3 cotton balls
until they are wet but not dripping and place them inside the jar.
Press 1-4 seeds (beans, peas, cantaloupe or corn work well) down
between the jar wall and the cotton, so they are clearly visible from
the outside. Screw on the cap.
Wear your sprout necklace during the day, keeping it out of direct
sunlight to avoid overheating. Store it in a warm place at night and
check the moisture level periodically. After about five days, the seeds
should begin to sprout. When they begin to crowd the jar, transplant
them to a flowerpot, or the garden.
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Suggested Reading:
"Wildflowers Of Wisconsin" by Stan Tekiela (all ages)
"Flower Garden" by Eve Bunting (age 2-6)
"Jack's Garden" by Henry Cole (age 2-6)
"Planting a Rainbow" by Lois Ehlert (age 4-8)
"From Seed to Plant" by Allan Fowler (age 4-8)
"Wildflowers, Blooms and Blossoms" by Diane Burns (age 4-8)
"The Reason for a Flower" by Ruth Heller (age 4-8)
"Wildflower ABC: An Alphabet of Potato Prints" by Diana Pomeroy (age 4-8)
"The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: A Book About How Living Things Grow" by Joanna Cole (age 4-8)
"Peterson First Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and North-central North America" by Roger Tory Peterson (age 4-12)
"Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots: Gardening Together with Children" by Sharon Lovejoy (age 4-12)
"Wildflowers (Peterson Field Guides Color-In Books)" by Roger Tory Peterson
(age 6-12)
"Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America" by Kathi Appelt (age 9-12)
"Wildflowers Around the Year" by Hope Ryden (age 9-12)
