This week’s challenge is one that we originally had a hard time completing. But, because we prepared ahead of time and were patient, when the opportunity arose to see evening primrose during a hike, we could identify it and enjoy seeing it in person. It really is a very pretty flower!
Do some research and see if you have evening primrose in your area. If not, use the information in the archived challenge to learn about another night blooming flower like moonflower or Four-O-Clocks.
I wrote an entry about planting seeds in my garden to have some of my very own night blooming flowers: Night Blooming Flowers.
This ebook is found in the Ultimate level membership for you to download and use with your family. If you would like to gain access to this ebook, you can purchase a membership now and have instant access.
Spring Wildflowers with the Outdoor Hour Challenge
Don’t miss the giveaway below!
Here in Central Oregon we haven’t experienced many wildflowers yet but I know they are coming! I’m trying to support the Charlotte Mason homeschoolers who are following the Ambleside Online’s nature study schedule so I’ll compile some ideas for studying wildflowers. As you observe the wildflowers in your neighborhood, check with the Handbook of Nature Study (the book and my website) for information and inspiration.
Here are some of the main wildflower links for you to use here on the website.
Gardens Tab at the top of the website. This page lists all of the wildflowers we’ve studied here with the Outdoor Hour Challenge in the past. You will find them listed by ebook and then at the bottom of the page in alphabetical order. These links are available to everyone.
I hope these links help you locate the wildflower study that your family is interested in completing this season. There are so many to choose from so don’t be overwhelmed. I decided when I first started out identifying wildflowers with my children that we would take each flower one at a time. We aimed to learn a new flower each time we took a walk and that strategy helped us not be overwhelmed. Take it one flower at a time and use the Outdoor Hour Challenges to help you dig deeper and then follow up with a nature journal entry of some sort.
Is it important to know each flower’s name?
I recently took a hike with a friend and she was hoping I could teach her the names of the wildflowers we saw as we walked. I told her that once you know a flower’s name, you think of it as a friend, the kind of friend you look forward to seeing. She laughed at first but later realized that it does change your view of a wildflower once you know its name.
My Best Hint: Take lots of pictures for future reference!
It’s much easier to identify a wildflower with a field guide if you have an image of the flower, its leaf, and its stem.
Some Links to My Past Wildflower Studies You May Want to View for Inspiration:
California Poppies: We have spent many hours observing the poppy and its many interesting features.
Hike to the River – Spring Wildflowers: When we lived in California, we had our favorite trail to the river and at this time of year it was full of wildflowers. Be inspired to take your own walk!
Spring Wildflowers: Here is another one that is full of our California wildflowers.
I’m giving away 5 copies of each of my wildflower ebooks. I will randomly draw 5 winners to receive Set #1 and Set #2 of the new wildflower ebooks here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
Use the Rafflecopter gadget below to enter.
I’ll be picking the winners on 4/14/18 so enter today.
With the change of the season, it’s time to make your autumn observations for Queen Anne’s Lace. Whether you’re just starting a year-long study of this pretty wildflower or you’re continuing from the summer season, you will find the suggestions in this challenge a great help in learning about this common wildflower. (Some call it a weed, but I prefer to think of it as a wildflower!)
If you don’t have any Queen Anne’s Lace to observe in person, choose two other neighborhood weeds to study and compare using the ideas in the challenge linked above.
If you own the ebook, there are two different notebooking pages for you to use for your nature journal entry.
I recently used one of the challenge ideas and collected a number of autumn weeds and seeds for a “weed bouquet”. This might be a wonderful idea for an autumn nature walk that combines observing weeds and seeds and then culminates in a lovely bouquet for your nature table. You can see my entry here: Weed Bouquets and Autumn Time.
If you would like to own this ebook, it’s part of the Ultimate Naturalist Library for members. You can find more details on how to get your own membership here: Join Us!
Our neighborhood is mostly evergreens with a few deciduous trees mixed in. The view from my back window is over a slope leading down to the river and it has very few trees and lots of shrubs and grasses. The grasses are what most people would call “weeds” and in between those grasses there are a few wildflowers like yarrow and asters. The river is lined with willows, the shrubby kind and not the trees. For what it’s worth, I find the view from any of my windows beautiful and refreshing.
As the winter snows have already started, I’m seeing fewer and fewer short plants as they get buried and mashed down by the snow and ice. There are still a few plants surviving so I took the opportunity a week or so ago to cut some of the autumn weeds for a bouquet to have indoors. It was pretty late for gathering much but I still managed to create a bouquet that makes me happy. Once again, it is a matter of perspective in determining whether a plant is a weed or something amazing to look at as part of an autumn bundle in a vase.
My winter weed bouquet from years past.
My husband and I debate about the definition of a weed, an on-going discussion in our family. I say a weed is something growing where you don’t want it to grow, like in a flower or vegetable garden or in the middle of your manicured lawn. But, if the plant is growing, like most of those in our yard, in a natural landscape, I try to leave it as part of the habitat.
In my eyes, my autumn weed bouquet is as pretty as any flower shop bunch of roses.
Invite your children to gather some of your autumn weeds to be indoors as part of your nature display.
From the Archives and the Autumn 2009 series of challenges (no ebook but printable notebook pages are available)
I am super excited for our autumn flower study, either the goldenrod flower or one of the alternatives listed in the challenge. I love looking at wildflowers in this transitional time of the year. After the abundance of summertime wildflowers, autumn flowers are more subdued but still pretty and very interesting. This is certainly the case with the goldenrod. I think the narrative section in the Handbook of Nature Study about the goldenrod is one of my favorites.
Please join us for an autumn flower study!
Remember we start the Autumn 2010 series of Outdoor Hour Challenges next week. You can see the plan in this entry: Autumn 2017 Nature Schedule.
If you can’t find a cocklebur, look for common burdock as an alternative study.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Look for cocklebur to be growing in open, often moist, disturbed areas with poorly drained soil. They need full or partial sun. The flowers bloom from July to October.
Ebook users can use the suggestions in the challenge to observe carefully your cocklebur. Others can make careful observations of the stem, leaf, flower (if any), and seeds.
Follow-Up Activity:
Create a nature journal page for the cocklebur using the notebook page provided in the ebook if desired or in your own personal nature journal. There is also a coloring page for the cocklebur in the ebook.
Start or continue a notebook page for the aster family of plants, listing any flowers in the aster family you observe.
How do you get the Wildflower Nature Study Set #2 ebook?
Members of theUltimate Naturalistand 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.
If you are looking for a variety of wildflower, weed, and garden flower notebooking pages to use in your nature journal, I highly recommend this set from NotebookingPages.com. I have used them with my own family in the past and love them. Please note I am an affiliate for NotebookingPages.com and I will receive a small commission if you eventually purchase any of their products after clicking the link above.
Here in the high desert of Central Oregon, we have a variety of blooming flowers that will grow that provide color, don’t need a lot of water, and are pretty much deer resistant. Salvia is one of those flowers. We have some gorgeous deep blue, almost purple, salvia in our front yard and I often times see the hummingbirds and butterflies flying around its blossoms.
This week we’re going to take a closer look at salvia if it’s available in your garden or area. If not, make sure to read the additional activity ideas at the bottom of the challenge.
Here’s one suggestion:
Additional Activity: Make it a fun flower study activity for your creative child! Put some garden flowers in a vase on a table along with sheets of paper, colored pencils, and magnifying lenses. Invite your child to make a sketch for their nature journal or to put on your nature table.
Would you like to see our family’s salvia study from a few years ago? Here is the link:
Are you looking for a huge set of nature study related notebooking pages to use with your family? I highly recommend this set from NotebookingPages.com. We used them in our family for many years and they are a super easy way to get started with nature journaling.
Use code discount5 to save $5 on any purchase $10 or more from NotebookingPages.com.
If you you use the coupon above to purchase the nature study set, it will bring the cost down to $5.95 for over 293 notebooking pages.
Check to see if you have chicory (cichorium intybus) in your area by looking at this range map: USDA.
Use this website to get to know a little about chicory and what it looks like: Chicory.
Advanced study: Research how the roots of this plant have been historically used as a substitute for coffee! Here is a website to get you started: What is Chicory?
Use the chart in the ebook to look up chicory in the suggested resources.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Look for chicory in the full sun and in a dry habitat. They prefer to be near hot rocks or other debris in soil like at a roadside. They can also grow in pastures and other unmowed grassy areas. Often times chicory grows alongside Queen Anne’s Lace. Look for this pretty blue flower from early summer to early fall.
Use the suggested observations in the ebook to make a careful study of this interesting plant.
Follow-Up Activity:
Create a nature journal page featuring chicory, noting any observations you have made using the suggestions in this challenge. There is a notebook page for you to use in the ebook. There is also a coloring page for chicory in the ebook.
Start or continue an aster family plant page by listing the pattern of the aster family and then create a list of aster flowers you have seen in real life. Add to your page as needed.
How do you get the new Wildflower Nature Study ebook?
Members of theUltimate Naturalistand 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.
If you are looking for a variety of wildflower, weed, and garden flower notebooking pages to use in your nature journal, I highly recommend this set from NotebookingPages.com. I have used them with my own family in the past and love them. Please note I am an affiliate for NotebookingPages.com and I will receive a small commission if you eventually purchase any of their products after clicking the link above.
We took the short drive from our new home down to Crater Lake bright and early on a Monday. We were hoping this would be a good time to see the park without the crowds. It worked out! We arrived at the North entrance and headed straight to Watchman Overlook. They were working on the parking lot but we were able to park alongside the road.
The view was spectacular! There were still patches of snow along the road, on the edge of the lake, and in shady spots in among the trees throughout the park. The water was a deep aqua blue as it shimmered in the morning sunshine.
Such beautiful lichen on the rocks
We then went over to the Sinnott Memorial Overlook right behind the Rim Village Visitor Center. There were a few more people here but still very enjoyable to take the walk out to the overlook and see the lake in all its glory.
After that, we drove down to the Steel Visitor Center so we could watch the movie about Crater Lake and how it was formed. We all really enjoyed this and learned a lot about the natural history of this amazing spot on Earth.
Wildflowers were next on the list of things to see in the park and we headed to the Castle Crest Wildflower Trail which was a short drive from the visitor center. Overwhelmingly beautiful!
There were so many flowers in bloom of all shapes and colors. There is a creek running down the hillside which provided the background soundtrack of babbling and rushing water. There were many, many insects including a hummingbird moth that we observed for some time.
I was super excited to discover a “new to me” wildflower growing in abundance along the trail. The White Bog Orchid was so delicate and beautiful! I’m hoping to add it to my nature journal soon.
Our last stop before heading back home was Plaikni Falls. This is on the east side of the lake and it’s a very easy two mile round trip hike on a fairly flat trail. The falls themselves are a cascading series of falls that you can hike to the base of and then look up to the top. We sat on some rocks and let the cooling mist get us a bit damp. People were taking off their boots and soaking their feet in the icy water. I was glad we had saved this for the rather hot afternoon.
I know we’ll be making more trips here in the future since it is an easy hour’s drive from home.
Use the information on the following websites to learn more about the two major kinds of columbine you might encounter.
Eastern red columbine (Aquilegia Canadensis): This plant is found east of the Rocky Mountains. Read more about it here: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflowers. The range map is found here: USDA Plants.
Use the chart on page 7 of the ebook to look up columbine in the suggested resources.
Sidenote: “Aquila” means eagle in Latin. Aquilegia refers to the spurred petals people think look like eagle’s talons.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Look for columbine in moist open woods, on banks and seeps, and in the sun or part shade. Look for columbine blooming anywhere from May—August.
Use the suggestions in this challenge to make careful observations of your columbine.
Follow-Up Activity:
Create a nature journal page with information about the columbine. You can use the suggestions in the ebook or use the nature notebook page and/or coloring page included in the ebook.
Create a buttercup family notebook page. Record any flowers you observe that are in the buttercup family.
How do you get the new Wildflower Nature Study ebook?
Members of theUltimate Naturalistand 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.
If you are looking for a variety of wildflower, weed, and garden flower notebooking pages to use in your nature journal, I highly recommend this set from NotebookingPages.com. I have used them with my own family in the past and love them. Please note I am an affiliate for NotebookingPages.com and I will receive a small commission if you eventually purchase any of their products after clicking the link above.
