Category: garden

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Outdoor Hour Challenge – Summer Bachelor Buttons

This week we’re starting to work through the Nature Study Continues – Summer! I invite you to join us for a fantastic series of nature study plans with the Outdoor Hour Challenge.

Now that it’s spring, it is so exciting to be starting off the series with a colorful garden flower.

“We call it bachelor’s button; but in Europe it is called the cornflower, and under this name it found its way into literature….Their tubes flare open like trumpets, and they are indeed color trumpets heralding to the insect world that there is nectar for the probing and pollen for exchange.”

Handbook of Nature Study

bachelor buttons

Use the suggestions in the Handbook of Nature Study linked below to take a look at some garden flowers this week. If you have access to the bachelor’s button, learn more in depth about the composite flower using Lesson 131 in the Handbook of Nature Study.

Outdoor Hour Challenge Bachelors Buttons @handbookofnaturestudy

Link to the Archive Challenge: Bachelor Buttons

 

Outdoor Hour Challenge Summer Nature Study continues cover

If you want to purchase the Summer Nature Study Continues ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels.

The rest of the topics in this summer series are:

  • Water lily
  • Lacewing
  • Willow
  • Larkspur
  • Fish: Common shiner, Johnny darter, sunfish
  • Pearly everlasting
  • Asters
  • Baltimore oriole
  • Caddisfly and water strider

Ultimate Naturalist Library September 2017 @handbookofnaturestudy

See the Join Us page for complete information.

Use this discount code to receive $5 off your Ultimate Membership:

SUMMER5

 

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Outdoor Hour Challenge – Garden Flowers #10 Sunflower Study and Art Too!

 

“All this flower has to do is to hold its banner aloft as a sign to the world, especially the insect world, that here is to be found pollen in plenty, and nectar for the probing.”

Handbook of Nature Study, page 576

Growing and then studying your own sunflowers is a great way to learn the growing cycle of a garden flower…from planting seed to harvesting seeds.

Last week, the challenge was to plant some sunflowers. This week our challenge is to make some observations once your sunflowers are blooming. If you have access to sunflowers now, either in your own garden or from a farmers market, take the opportunity to use the lesson’s suggestions to go deeper into a composite flower study.

Sunflower Renees Garden

Read the Handbook of Nature Study pages on sunflowers (pages 574-578). I can’t think of a better way to study sunflowers than to follow Anna Comstock’s lesson in this section of her book. Read the narrative and then go over the observation suggestions.

If you would like to see our family’s sunflower nature study entries, you can read it here: Outdoor Hour Challenge #16 and Outdoor Hour Challenge #29

Don’t miss seeing our images and nature journal pages!

Sunflowers+patterns+in+the+garden+@handbookofnaturestudyblogspot.com.jpg

If you have access to the Garden ebook, make sure to pull out the sunflower art activity using a painting by Van Gogh.

 

Gardens ebook Outdoor Hour challenge

With this challenge, we’ll be finishing our official work in the Garden Flower and Plants ebook. If you’ve been working in this book along with us for the past eight weeks, you’ll want to make sure to check if there are any nature journal pages you need to add to or finish up. See page 37 in the ebook for a list of wrap-up activities. Of course, you can continue working on your garden flower challenges and notebook pages as long as you have an interest.

Outdoor Hour Challenge Summer Nature Study Continues ebook

If you want to join us for the summer series of nature study challenges, we’re going to be starting with the Summer Nature Study Continues ebook on May 31, 2019. If you have an Ultimate or Journey level Membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you have access to this ebook and the detailed plan for the summer in your account.

Ultimate Naturalist Library September 2017 @handbookofnaturestudy

If you would like to purchase a membership so you have all of the challenges at your fingertips and the custom notebooking pages too, click over to read all the details and download a sample: Summer Nature Study Continues ebook sample.

Use this discount code to receive $5 off your Ultimate Membership:

SUMMER5

 

 

 

 

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Outdoor Hour Challenge – Garden Flowers #8 Seeds and Weeds

 

“Why do we call a plant a weed? Is a weed a weed wherever it grows? How did this weed plant itself where I find it growing? Of what advantage is this weed?”

Handbook of Nature Study, page 513

When Anna Botsford Comstock uses the term “weed”, she many times means what we would commonly call a “wildflower”. If you look in the Table of Contents in the Handbook of Nature Study, you will see a long list of “weeds” that are subjects of complete lessons in this nature study volume.

Dandelions wildflower or weed

From my personal experience, I have this conversation every spring with my husband over whether a dandelion is a weed or a wildflower. He has given me the gift of dandelions in our yard, even though he really wants to weed them out. I love their happy color and have observed many an insect benefiting from our leaving a few dandelions at the edges of our yard. (Read about my “wild side” here: Wild Side #1
and Wild Side #2)

This week click over to read the original challenge from the Garden ebook and then pick a weed to observe, looking carefully for its seeds. This activity can be done periodically as the seeds develop during the summer season. Make it a weed and seed hunt!

 

 

Weeds+and+Seeds+Study+@handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com.jpg

Link to the Archive Outdoor Hour Challenge –

Focus on Garden Flowers #8 Seeds and Weeds

 

Gardens ebook Outdoor Hour challenge

We’re continuing to work through the Garden Flower and Plants ebook over the next few weeks. If you own this ebook or have access to it in your Ultimate Naturalist Library, you’ll want to get it out and read the first few pages that outline how the ten week series of garden challenges work together and can be done in any order that makes sense to your family. The ebook has planning pages as you choose, observe, and then learn more about each garden flower you study.

Ultimate Naturalist Library September 2017 @handbookofnaturestudy

If you would like to purchase a membership so you have all of the challenges at your fingertips and the custom notebooking pages too, click over to read all the details and download a sample: Garden Flower and Plant Challenges.

 

Handbook of Nature Study June 2013 Newsletter Cover

You may wish to look at the June 2013 Newsletter if you have a membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study.

Handbook of Nature Study Nature Book Club Wildflowers

There’s a lot of great information on wildflowers in this post that I wrote last year. Click over to find helpful hints for your seeds and weeds study:

Wildflowers to Love.

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New Printable for Members- Garden Set #2 of Notebook Pages

Now available in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships:

Garden Notebooking Pages – Set #2

(See the end of this post for more information on how you can become a member.)

Garden Notebooking Pages Set #2: This set of notebooking pages for your nature journal will help you study the following topics: cucumbers, kale, cherries, gourds, and squash.

There are 5  notebooking pages in this set. These pages are a great supplement to the Garden Flowers and Plants ebook that we are currently working through with the Outdoor Hour Challenge.

Garden+Flowers+Cover.jpg

Note: If you have any subjects you would like me to create nature notebook pages for, please let me know in a comment here on the blog or in an email: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

 

Printables for Members Button

Print a complete list of printables available in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships by clicking the button above.

Ultimate Naturalist Library September 2017 @handbookofnaturestudy

Use the discount code NATURE5 for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership!

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New Printable for Members- Garden Set of Notebook Pages

Now available in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships:

Garden Notebooking Pages – Set #1

(See the end of this post for more information on how you can become a member.)

Garden Notebooking Pages Set #1: This set of notebooking pages for your nature journal will help you study the following topics: morning glories, lilacs, marigolds, caterpillars, and cabbage whites. I love this time of year and hope these pages will inspire you to get out into your garden and look for these common subjects. There are 7 notebooking pages in this set. These pages are a great supplement to the Garden Flowers and Plants ebook that we are currently working through with the Outdoor Hour Challenge.

Garden+Flowers+Cover.jpg

Note: If you have any subjects you would like me to create nature notebook pages for, please let me know in a comment here on the blog or in an email: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

 

Printables for Members Button

Print a complete list of printables available in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships by clicking the button above.

Ultimate Naturalist Library September 2017 @handbookofnaturestudy

Use the discount code NATURE5 for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership!

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Outdoor Mom – May 2018

Outdoor Mom
May 2018

swallow nesting box

Our outdoor time made us wonder…..

We’ve been watching birds in our yard since we moved here a year ago. We’ve now seen the complete cycle of birds in each season. I’m thrilled every time a new kind of bird shows up at a feeder or within sight of our windows. Now, the nesting boxes are being occupied by a couple of bird families. The tree swallows are the most fascinating to watch as they bring the materials into the box for their nest. How do they fly with those long grasses in their mouth? How do they manage to get them through the little hole and into the box? Truly a miracle of life!

yarrow garden

In our garden, we are building…..

Construction has begun on our new yard landscape. We picked the pavers for the walkways and patio so now all we need to do is make a plan for getting them laid. My husband is working part time at a landscaping and floral nursery down the road from us and this is how we’ll finance the bigger purchases of rock, sand, and the majority of the trees and shrubs. It’s been awesome to have an expert help us at least get started with this huge project. Now that we’re underway, I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

planting my rock garden

I’ve had to do quite a bit of research about native plants in anticipating the filling of our garden beds. I don’t want to spend a lot of money purchasing things that will not survive our harsh, long winters. Or as I’ve discovered from experience, plants that the deer will eat in one night. Instead, it makes sense to take the time to find out the best way to spend our money and energy and still end up with a yard that is beautiful and will stand the test of time.

Central oregon sky

I am dreaming about…..

The promise of another summer season here in Oregon is just about to be realized. I can feel the days getting longer and the landscape is filling up with green things and flowering things and life in general. The river is calling us to come and float on its cool clear water. The sun is warm on my face and shoulders when I’m out in the garden. I can’t wait to be in the middle of July when all my family is going to be around me for a big anniversary picnic!

start of butterfly garden

One last image…..

This is just the start of something pretty outside my bedroom window for the birds, bees, and butterflies. It just makes me happy to think of the seasons to come where I will be able to look out my window and see a little nature looking back at me.

Instagram OutdoorHourChallenge

Follow me here: Instagram – outdoorhourchallenge.  If you would like me to take a look at one of your images on Instagram, use the hashtag #outdoorhourchallenge.

Want to join in the Outdoor Mom post?

Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.

  • During our outdoor time this month we went…
  • The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
  • Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
  • In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…
  • I added nature journal pages about…
  • I am reading…
  • I am dreaming about…
  • One last image…

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What is Nyctinasty?

Why do Flowers Close at Night?

Why do flowers close at night nyctinasty

Nyctinasty

Simple definition:  The movement of leaves or petals in response to light; the closing of flowers at night. This may help to protect the pollen from dew.

I love learning about amazing things that happen right under my nose. Many of us have observed the way our dandelions are closed up tight in the morning and then the bloom opens up in the sunshine each day. But, have we taken the time to really understand how that happens and why it happens? Just recently I did a little research to find the answer to that question.  Now when I take note of my sleepy little flowers, I can appreciate the mechanism for this phenomenon: nyctinasty.

Poppy nyctinasty

Examples of flowers that open and close:

  • Tulip
  • Crocus
  • Dandelion
  • Poppy
  • Daisy

Fun fact – The leaves of some plants, like those of certain legumes, open and close as well.

 dandelion nyctinasty

Try This! Something to Observe

Find a patch of daisies or dandelions in your yard. Observe the flower at different times of the day. When are they opened up? When are they closed?

Advanced study: For an additional experiment, try covering a dandelion with a box to shut out the light. What do you think you will find when you take the box off the next day?

Taking time to notice these changes will help your child make a more intimate connection with the world around them. I guarantee you will look at dandelions differently after observing them up close!

Nyctinasty notebook page

If you’re an Ultimate or Journey level member here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you have a custom notebook page for creating a nature journal entry for nyctinasty in your download library.

tulip nyctinasty

Additional Links:

Why do plants close their leaves at night? – Audio explanation of nyctinasty.

Flowers on the Move – Super simple explanation of nyctinasty.

List of Flowers That Close at Night – Here’s a list to get you started.

 

Outdoor Hour Challenges for Flowers That Close At Night

 

If you would like to purchase a membership to have access to all 21 of the ebooks here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you can click the button below to view the titles. In addition, members receive access to all 76 archived issues of the monthly nature study newsletter, and new monthly printables.

Ultimate Naturalist Library September 2017 @handbookofnaturestudy

 

 

 

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Outdoor Hour Challenge – Asters, Daisies, and Black Eyed Susans

 

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Asters, Daisies, and Black-Eyed Susans

From the Archives and the More Nature Study – Summer ebook

asters

Here in Central Oregon we have many asters and daisies to observe.  This week’s challenge takes us into the Handbook of Nature Study lessons on daisies and asters.  Look for these flowers in your garden and yard.  If you can’t find any flowers to observe in person during your outdoor time, you can usually find these flowers in the floral department at your local grocery store.

Make this a fun and enjoyable study by following up with some watercolor paintings in your nature journal. I am always inspired to be creative when I take my paints outside and your children may just be the same way.

Patterns+in+garden+flowers+@handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com.jpg

Make sure to watch the videos in the original challenge to inspire even the most flower study reluctant boys. They might want to look for the patterns and the Fibonacci sequence in the challenge flowers after learning more about this fascinating aspect of nature.

You can also follow up by pressing flowers for your nature journal or allowing time for your children to arrange a beautiful bouquet of flowers for your kitchen table.

Above all, get outside and enjoy your family time!

 

Vitamin N

My current nature themed read is Vitamin N by Richard Louv. I am gleaning so many new and original nature study ideas from his writings. I know many of you have read his other book, Last Child in the Woods, but Vitamin N takes his ideas one step further by providing specific and practical ideas for enjoying nature with your family. I highly recommend this book! Look for it at your public library.

Looking for the autumn plan for the Outdoor Hour Challenge? Here is a link!

1 Outdoor Hour Challenge Oct 17 to Aug 18 Plans

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Outdoor Hour Challenge – Henbit Study

Outdoor Hour challenge henbit @handbookofnaturestudy
Image credit: Miltos Gikas

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Henbit Nature Study – Wildflower Set #2

Inside Preparation:

  • Henbit (Laminum amplexicaule) is a fairly common wildflower in North America. See the range map here: USDA Henbit.
  • You may wish to read this page: Henbit on Edible Wild Food. Please note that I do not encourage the eating of any plants covered in this ebook.
  • Use internet sources to research henbit. Ebook users look at page 7 for a list of suggestions.

Outdoor Hour Time:

Look for henbit alongside roads, in lawns, pastures, or gardens. Bloom time is early spring to late fall.

  • Observe henbit if possible but any of the related plants would be a wonderful alternative study, especially purple dead nettle. You can tell the difference between the plants by looking at the leaves. Henbit’s are heart shaped and dead nettle leaves are more triangular.
  • Make careful observations using the suggestions in this ebook if you have access to it.
  • Another name for henbit is giraffe head. Which name do you like better?

Follow-Up Activity:

  • Create a notebook page for henbit using the page provided in the ebook or in your nature journal. There is also a coloring page for henbit in the ebook.
  • Start a mint family notebook page. Keep a running list of flowers you observe and/or study in this plant family.
  • Advanced study: This website has a comparison of three similar plants that you may wish to consult: Identify That Plant. Create a nature journal page that includes descriptions of each of the featured plants: Creeping Charlie, purple dead nettle, and henbit.

 

OHC Wildflower Set 2 @handbookofnaturestudy

How do you get the new Wildflower Nature Study ebook?

Members of the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey levels have access to the new ebook in their library. You need to click the “Members Area” button at the top of the website, sign into your account, and the ebook is there to download and save for your family to use when desired. If you don’t have a membership yet, I am offering a $5 off discount code that will be good towards your Ultimate Naturalist membership.

Discount Code: Wildflower5

 

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Outdoor Hour Challenge – Summer Clover

Outdoor Hour Challenge Crop Plants Clover @handbookofnaturestudy

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Clover – Crop Plants

From the archives and in the Crop Plants ebook

 

Sometimes the best nature study subjects are those that are found right under our noses. Clover can be just one of those things! It grows amongst our grass and alongside our hiking trails, most of the time unnoticed by us in our busy lives.

Follow the inspiration of the bee and spy some clover this week to look at up close and personal. It is usually a plant found in abundance so go ahead and pick a few flowers to take inside for careful observation.

Use the suggestions in the Outdoor Hour Challenge for clover to get to know this plant better. As a more advanced study, learn more about the pea family of plants

You are welcome to take a look at our clover study done in the past: Clover in Our Grass.

 

OHC Wildflower Set 2 @handbookofnaturestudy

Coming next week is the brand new Outdoor Hour Challenge Wildflower Set #2 ebook! Read more about it here: New Ebook Coming Soon.

Note these are affiliate links to products I love!
Wildflowers, Weeds, & Garden Flowers Notebooking PagesNature Study Notebooking Pages

Download a FREE sample of A-Z Animal Notebooking Pages from NotebookingPages.com.

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