wildflowers Archives

Posted on June 11, 2021 by Barb — Leave a comment

Brand New! Outdoor Hour Challenge: Fireweed Wildflower Nature Study

Brand New! Outdoor Hour Challenge

Fireweed Wildflower Nature Study

Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium) gets its name from its ability to quickly populate a recently burned out or disturbed area. It’s hard to believe how this wildflower springs to life after a devastating wildfire, but it does so among the ashes!

Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Look for pink spires of flowers on top of tall leafy stems with narrow willow-like leaves. See the images in this ebook and in the links below. Here’s a nice YouTube video for you to watch: Fireweed.
Look up the range map on USDA: Fireweed Range. Check to see if you have fireweed in your local area. Use the printable fact sheet from the USDA to learn all you can about this common wildflower: Fireweed Plant Guide.

If you have a membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you’ll find the complete challenge with images, more links to resources and videos, journaling ideas, a notebook page, and ideas for studying flowers in the evening primrose family. You’ll need to sign into your Ultimate or Journey level membership to see the book download.

Outdoor Hour Challenge Wildflower 3 Covermaker — Ebook includes nature study lessons for common silverweed, fireweed, salsify, Indian paintbrush, and forget-me-nots.

Here’s a sample from the Wildflower ebook: Outdoor Hour Challenge Wildflower Set 3 Sample

To purchase an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership, you can click on over to the Join Us page at any time.

Posted on June 4, 2021 by Barb — Leave a comment

Brand New! Outdoor Hour Challenge: Silverweed Wildflower Nature Study

Brand New! Outdoor Hour Challenge

Silverweed Wildflower Nature Study

We’re starting the new Outdoor Hour Challenge series of wildflowers with the common silverweed. This plant is in the rose family and many of us in North America will be able to spot it after a simple study of its characteristics and an image or two. Thankfully, the silverweed has a very distinctive leaf pattern which helps us distinguish it from other small yellow flowered wildflowers.

Here are a few ideas to get you started. If you have a membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you’ll find the complete challenge with images, more links to resources and videos, journaling ideas, a notebook page, and ideas for studying flowers in the rose family. You’ll need to sign into your Ultimate or Journey level membership to see the book download.

Look for common silverweed in sandy habitats along stream banks, shorelines, and meadows. It is low growing and there are mats of flat rosettes with creeping red colored runners. Another identifying feature is the leaves that have up to 20 leaflets with smaller ones mixed in among the larger ones. There is a single golden yellow flower on a leafless stalk.
The usual bloom time ranges from May to August.

Here’s a sample from the Wildflower ebook: OHC Wildflower Set 3 Sample

To purchase an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership, you can click on over to the Join Us page at any time.

Posted on June 1, 2021 by Barb — Leave a comment

June 2021 Nature Study Plans – Outdoor Hour Challenge

I always get excited when we start a new series of challenges. Plus, who isn’t ready for a little wildflower nature time? Join us each Friday as we work through the Wildflower Ebook #3.

I’m hoping to create journal pages for each of the four wildflowers in this month’s Outdoor Hour Challenges.

We have silverweed, fireweed, and salsify in our front yard so we won’t have to travel far to make careful observations.

I hope you can join us for some flower nature study this month!

6/4/2021 – Silverweed Nature Study

6/11/2021 – Fireweed Nature Study

6/18/2021 – Salsify Nature Study

6/25/2021 – Indian Paintbrush Nature Study

New Printables in the Members Library

Circles in Nature Notebook Page: Take a walk and look for circles in nature. Use the notebook page to sketch and record some of your observations.

Pollinator Observation Notebook Page: Learn about the pollinators in your neighborhood and then use this notebook page to keep track of your research.

Click the graphic above to view the complete list of printables available as part of an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.

Members also have access to the Nature Planner pages in their library. Print out this month’s page and use it to stimulate your weekly nature study time.

If you’d like to have access to the member’s printables and the newsletter archive, I invite you to join with an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership. Your membership will be valid for one year from the date of purchase. Click the graphic above to see the many benefits of an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.

Posted on May 27, 2021 by Barb — Leave a comment

Wildflower Ebooks for Summer Nature Study

We’re entering wildflower season and I couldn’t be happier! I love looking for new flowers and recognizing my old favorites as the season progresses.

Beginning the first week in June, we’ll be starting a new series of Outdoor Hour Challenges based on my Wildflower Ebook #3.

Topics include: fireweed, salsify, paintbrush, forget-me-nots, and silverweed.

Please note these flowers are not found in the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock. I’ve written these nature study lessons with information from field guides and internet sources. In addition, there are observation suggestions and sketching information for each flower.

You can see a sample from the book here: Wildflower Ebook #3.

Members need to log into their accounts and then scroll down to find the ebook for downloading.

If you need to purchase a membership, you can do so at any time during the year. Your membership will last for one year from purchase.

Please use discount code NATURE5 for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.

What wildflowers are you looking forward to learning about?

Shooting Star

Purple Chinese Houses

Lupine

Yarrow

Wild Mustard and Wild Radish

Henbit

Cow Parsnip

Columbine

Chicory

Cocklebur

Fireweed

Salsify

Forget-Me-Not

Paintbrush

Common silverweed

Additional Wildflower Challenges

I’ve written Outdoor Hour Challenges for every wildflower listed in the Handbook of Nature Study. You can find them under the “Garden” tab on my website. That’s dozens of wildflowers to choose from!

You can have access to the ebooks in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships.

In addition, there are many other summer related challenges available in the summer ebooks.

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge-Bleeding Hearts Nature Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Bleeding Hearts Nature Study

“The flowers of the bleeding heart are beautiful jewel-like pendants arranged along the stem according to their age; the mature flower, ready to shed its petals, is near the main stem while the tiny unopened bud is hung at the very top, where new buds are constantly being formed during a long season of bloom.”

Handbook of Nature Study

Anna Botsford Comstock placed the bleeding heart in the garden flowers section of the Handbook of Nature Study. But many of us live in areas where we can also find bleeding hearts as a blooming native (wildflower) plant. The Pacific bleeding heart is found in your field guide under the name Dicentra Formosa.

Hint: It can be found both as a garden plant and as a native plant in many areas.

View the original challenge here: Bleeding Hearts Nature Study

If you have access to the Winter Nature Study Continues ebook, there are two notebook pages to choose from for your nature journal.

To purchase an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership, click on over to the Join Us page at any time.

You can use the discount code NATURE5 to receive $5 off your Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.

Posted on March 5, 2021March 29, 2023 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Violets Nature Study for Your Homeschool

In this violets nature study, learn how to identify violets plus enjoy suggestions for your outdoor homeschool nature study. Follow up activities include nature journaling pages for labeling flower parts and resources for how to grow violets.

fragrant violet - In this violets nature study, learn how to identify violets plus enjoy suggestions for your outdoor homeschool nature study. Follow up activities include nature journaling pages for labeling flower parts and resources for how to grow violets.

Outdoor Hour Challenge Violets Nature Study

I love violets! In the summer, we have thousands of them that come up all over the yard. They are in the flower beds, in the lawn, and even between the pavers of our walkway! I love their happy colors and I’m anxious to see them again once the season changes.

Most of our violets are transplants from a friend that have gone wild and reseeded themselves. But, we do have one native violet that grows as a wildflower along the edges of our property. It is the goosefoot violet and it’s yellow.

goosefoot violet - In this violets nature study, learn how to identify violets plus enjoy suggestions for your outdoor homeschool nature study. Follow up activities include nature journaling pages for labeling flower parts and resources for how to grow violets.

I need to be careful when I’m weeding along the fence because I could easily weed them right out of the flower bed. Learning their leaf shape, a distinctive “goose print” shape, has helped me to let them be when I’m cleaning out the weeds. Plus, it helps me remember its name! The goosefoot violet is one of our spring ephemerals and signals us that spring is on its way, making it a very welcome flower when we see it starting to bloom.

I think Anna Botsford Comstock had a love for violets as well. When you read the violets nature study lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study you can hear her appreciation for their form and beauty. She does mention the fact that not all violets are fragrant. This was a surprise to me because our violets in California all had that distinctive violet perfume fragrance. The goosefoot violet has no fragrance at all. Turns out, Anna was helpful in giving us some valuable information in order to correctly identify the wild violets.

Violet Nature Study @handbookofnaturestudy
In this violets nature study, learn how to identify violets plus enjoy suggestions for your outdoor homeschool nature study. Follow up activities include nature journaling pages for labeling flower parts and resources for how to grow violets.

Homeschool Nature Study Members: View the original challenge in Homeschool Nature Study membership in the Winter Course.

Learn about violets in the Winter Continues course in Homeschool Nature Study membership.

Make sure to check your local field guide to see which violets are native and then be on the lookout for some to observe in your nature study. As suggested in the challenge, look for “johnny jump ups” in your garden nursery as a substitute for wild violets.

In this violets nature study, learn how to identify violets plus enjoy suggestions for your outdoor homeschool nature study. Follow up activities include nature journaling pages for labeling flower parts and resources for how to grow violets.

Learn About Wildflowers in Homeschool Nature Study Membership

Annual members can download and use any of the wildflower challenges from the three sets of Wildflower curriculum available in the Member’s Library.

You will find hundreds of homeschool nature studies plus all the Outdoor Hour Challenges in our Homeschool Nature Study membership. There are 25+ continuing courses with matching Outdoor Hour curriculum that will bring the Handbook of Nature Study to life in your homeschool! In addition, there is an interactive monthly calendar with daily nature study prompt – all at your fingertips!

Learn More About Homeschool Nature Study Membership Today!

by Barbara McCoy, Outdoor Hour Challenges founder

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge Hepatica Nature Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Hepatica Nature Study

Suggested alternate study for West Coast people: Spring Beauty (Claytonia lanceolata).

“There should be from first to last a steady growth in the intelligence of the child as to the places where certain plants grow. He finds hepaticas and trilliums in the woods, daisies and buttercups in the sunny fields, mullein on the dry hillsides, cattails in the swamp, and water lilies floating on the pond. This may all be taught by simply asking the pupils questions relating to the soil and the special conditions of the locality where they found the flowers they bring to school. ”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 458

Oh, the joy of wandering the woods in search of spring wildflowers. When I lived in California, March was the real start of our spring wildflower season. Here in Central Oregon it starts much later, so I’m dreaming of wildflower season! My daughter who still lives in California will be sending me photos for sure!

Use this week’s Outdoor Hour Challenge to learn more about hepatica using the Handbook of Nature Study as well as the links and videos in the original challenge linked below.

Alternate Study Idea: Look for the Spring Beauty if you live in the western United States.

View the original challenge here: Outdoor Hour Challenge – Hepatica.

If you have access to the Winter Nature Study Continues ebook, there are two notebook pages to choose from for your nature journal.

To purchase an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership, click on over to the Join Us page at any time.

You can use the discount code NATURE5 to receive $5 off your Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.

Members can download and use any of the wildflower challenges from the three ebooks available in the Member’s Library.

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Barb — 2 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Bloodroot Nature Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Bloodroot Nature Study

The very early spring is a time to anticipate the coming of the spring ephemerals, those wildflowers that mark the ending of winter and the start of spring. (Read more about Spring Ephemerals in my archives.) This challenge will prepare you for getting out in the woods and parks to spot early wildflowers like bloodroot.

Please use the information in the original Outdoor Hour Challenge to learn more about bloodroot, including links and videos. In addition, I found this awesome new link for you to read for you study: The Ephemeral Beauty of Bloodroot.

View the original challenge here: Outdoor Hour Challenge – Bloodroot.

If you have access to the Winter Nature Study Continues ebook, there are two notebook pages to choose from for your nature journal.

To purchase an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership, click on over to the Join Us page at any time.

You can use the discount code NATURE5 to receive $5 off your Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.

Members can download and use any of the wildflower challenges from the three ebooks available in the Member’s Library.

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Barb — Leave a comment

January Nature Study – New Printables, Plan, and Planning Page

February Nature Study Plans – Outdoor Hour Challenge

I’m starting to get anxious for wildflower season! In honor of that enthusiasm, I’ve created a new set of notebook pages for you to use to enhance your plant family studies. If you have the Botany in a Day book (link at the end of this entry) on your bookshelf, pull it down and get ready to use it alongside these notebook pages for your nature journal.

There are two wildflower nature studies planned for late February, so I invite you to use those flowers to get started with your plant family studies. (Bloodroot is in the poppy plant family and hepatica is in the buttercup family.)

02/05/2021 – Flicker Bird Study

02/12/2021 – Scarlet Saucer Fungi Study

02/19/2021 – Bloodroot Nature Study

02/26/2021 – Hepatica Nature Study

New Printables in the Members Library

Plant Family Notebook Page Set: This nine-page set includes pages for recording notes and lists of the more common plant families. You’ll find pages for the mint, mustard, pea, lily, aster, mallow, rose, and parsley families. There is also a generic page for you to use with any of the other plant families you might study with your children.

Click the graphic above to view the complete list of printables available as part of an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.

Members also have access to the Nature Planner pages in their library. Print out this month’s page and use it to stimulate your weekly nature study time.

This is my affiliate link to the Botany in a Day book that I highly recommend to go along with a study of wildflowers.

All of the Outdoor Hour Challenges this month are from the Winter Nature Study Continues ebook.

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge- Autumn Prickly Lettuce Nature Study

We had a rather large crop of prickly lettuce in our yard this summer, so I can say from firsthand experience that it’s an interesting topic for a nature study lesson. Do you have a child that likes to use a compass? The lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study suggests using your compass as part of your observation of the prickly lettuce plant.

The prickly lettuce is also a great subject for a lesson on thorns, spines, and prickles. Make sure to observe the prickles and talk about how this protects the plant from being eaten by animals.

View the original challenge here: Outdoor Hour Challenge – Prickly Lettuce.

If you have access to the ebook, there are two notebook pages to choose from for your nature journal.

Alternate study: Look for the idea posted earlier this month for Creating a Weed Bouquet.

Sample to view: Outdoor Hour Challenge Autumn Nature Study 2015 Sample Pages

If you don’t have a membership yet, click the graphic above and join today for immediate access to the 26 ebooks and so much more! Remember that all levels, even the Discovery level membership, include access to all of the archived newsletters!

Topics in this ebook include:

Swallows and swifts
Catfish
Jewelweed
Prickly lettuce
Cockroach
Field horsetail
Catbird
Calcite, limestone, marble
Chicken
Turkey
Hedgehog fungi
Sapsucker
Brooks

Category: wildflowers

Brand New! Outdoor Hour Challenge: Fireweed Wildflower Nature Study

Brand New! Outdoor Hour Challenge: Silverweed Wildflower Nature Study

June 2021 Nature Study Plans – Outdoor Hour Challenge

Wildflower Ebooks for Summer Nature Study

What wildflowers are you looking forward to learning about?

Additional Wildflower Challenges

You can have access to the ebooks in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships.

In addition, there are many other summer related challenges available in the summer ebooks.

Outdoor Hour Challenge-Bleeding Hearts Nature Study

You can use the discount code NATURE5 to receive $5 off your Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Violets Nature Study for Your Homeschool

Outdoor Hour Challenge Violets Nature Study

Learn About Wildflowers in Homeschool Nature Study Membership

Outdoor Hour Challenge Hepatica Nature Study

You can use the discount code NATURE5 to receive $5 off your Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Bloodroot Nature Study

You can use the discount code NATURE5 to receive $5 off your Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.

January Nature Study – New Printables, Plan, and Planning Page

Outdoor Hour Challenge- Autumn Prickly Lettuce Nature Study

Outdoor Hour Challenges for families since 2008!