I love milkweed. Not only is it a beautiful flower but it is the host plant for one of my favorite insects, the monarch butterfly! During the autumn we can observe the milkweed plant turning dry and brown and the seed pods bursting open to disperse their seeds. The fluffy seeds fly away to hopefully create a new milkweed patch. This would be a great time of year to also research the many traditional uses of the milkweed fibers.
It is important to note there are many different kinds of milkweed….this I learned as part of our milkweed nature study. We have showy milkweed, purple milkweed, and narrow leaf milkweed in my part of the world. The flowers look very different and the seed pods look different. Use a local field guide to discover what kind of milkweed you have to observe in your neighborhood. If you need some suggestions for field guides, here is my Amazon.com affiliate link for my favorites: Wildflowers.
Here in California autumn is seed time for milkweed. The flowers are long past prime and the plant will be drying out. You may wish to start a year long study of milkweed and watch it over the next four seasons.
How about a free printable notebook page? This one is good for all four seasons.
Note: You do not need to purchase the ebooks to participate but just so you know, the More Nature Study Autumn ebook contains 3 custom milkweed notebooking pages (including an advanced version) and 2 coloring pages. Click the graphic at the bottom of this post to go over to check out the Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.
Here in California, July is a dry month. No rain at all falls in July in an average year. So, that means everything starts to turn brown (or some say “golden”). August has been dry as well…not a drop of rain!
The few colorful wildflowers that bloom are a welcome sight in an otherwise dry landscape.
So we felt like we cheated a little and used our time in Oregon to spy out some colorful and abundant wildflowers for our nature study delight. I filled my wildflower notebook with a whole list of flowers we found. See an image of one of the pages at the bottom of this post.
These were flowers around our campsite in Southern Oregon. Such diversity in shape, color, and scent!
Pearly Everlasting is one of our all time favorites and during July it is along most of the trails we hiked.
Amazing and wonderful gentian was spotted at Port Orford on the Oregon coast. This was a new flower for me and its color and dots make me smile.
This is a new insect for us that we discovered on the coast of Oregon. It is called the Red shouldered ctenucha and it has a blue body and silver tips on the wings. Incredible find!
Isn’t this a pretty flower? Looks a lot like sneezeweed but my field guide doesn’t show it growing along the Oregon coast…anyone know what it is?
I am continuing my wildflower journal as part of my 2016 nature study goals. I endeavor to keep track by hike what specific wildflowers we find. It is a great lesson in learning how flowers bloom at different times of the year and I hope to continue this project into next year and beyond. It makes me happy to page through and see all of the different flowers we know and have enjoyed on each and every hike. My journal is small enough to fit in my pocket or in my daypack and it doesn’t weigh much at all. It is now a habit that I stop and record my list right after my hike if I haven’t taken time during the hike to do so.
Have you been looking at wildflowers?
Here is a link to the original challenge from earlier in the month: Summer Wildflowers
Revisiting this awesome wildflower activity in a different season!
I am encouraging everyone to complete another wildflower grid study this month and then compare it to the one we did earlier this year. Wildflowers bloom in succession so it is a great way to teach your children about the passing of time and when to expect to see certain flowers each year.
You will find the wildflower grid study printable in this month’s newsletter (and the May 2016 one too). If you haven’t subscribed yet to the Handbook of Nature Study, you can do so now and receive the current newsletter in the follow up email. Members here on the Handbook of Nature Study have access to every newsletter in the archives.
New printables for members!
Invertebrates- This notebook page allows you to sketch an invertebrate you are studying and then write a bit about it on the lines provided.
My Wildflower Study- After you find a wildflower to observe up close, use this notebook page to record your experiences, including a large box for sketching. This page can be used with any wildflower and at any time of the year.
Click the graphic below to purchase your membership today!
This month I read and pondered over the Botany in a Day book, thinking about the suggestions given in this book for learning more deeply about the plants in my own habitat. Since it has been on my shelf for a few years, I am reviewing the fifth edition of the book. With the sixth edition, he added full color illustrations! (ISBN 978-1892784353)
It has turned my world upside down by showing me that there is more wisdom to using the patterns in the different plant families to identify a plant rather than by using the color and shape of the flowers. Most field guides organize their flowers by color and then by flower type. The Botany in a Day method uses the distinct attributes of a plant family to get you close in identifying a flower.
The author explains that by learning the most common and unique patterns found in plant families you will learn more about the plant…more than just a name.
There are a few pages at the beginning of the book that deal with plant names and classifications that I found rather interesting. There is a rather long section on the evolution of plants that I skimmed through quickly since it doesn’t interest me much.
Then the meat of the book helps you learn how to key out a plant using specific observations for every plant/flower. I think this is where the “botany in a day” title comes from…the method is easily understood in a day, not the learning of everything there is to know about plants. I can see how focusing first on the most common plant families first will help you get started with applying the method of identification, building your confidence to learn more families after that. The most common families are highlighted in the index and the author suggests you start with those.
I love that you are to learn about a plant family and then go out and look for plants that fit the pattern right in your own yard and neighborhood. The author also suggests paging through field guides to train your eye to see the patterns.
You will be seeing me work through this book in the months to come. I hope to learn one family at a time (starting with the mustard family) and then apply what I learn in my day to day observations of plants both in my yard and along the trails of California.
I saw this sign in the gift shop at Yosemite National Park and it expresses how I feel about the time I spend hiking in the mountains. I remember saying on a hike this month that I could spend all day, every day hiking and never get tired of it. The minute my feet hit the trail, my cares melt away. We have spent many days this month hiking and walking outside in the sunshine. May is a month of great contrasts in weather and by the last week, we hiked under a blazing sun.
My California habitat is shown in the photo above. I told my friend that oaks and poppies on rolling hills just feels like my “home”. We took a new hike at Hidden Falls Regional Park (about an hour from home) on a whim. I had read about it in my hiking book, did a quick search on the internet, and then we jumped into the car early one Saturday morning. The parking lot was almost full when we arrived and it sort of concerned us that we might have a crowd on the trail. But, our worries were for nothing and it is such a big place that we never encountered any congestion and felt as if we had the place to ourselves most of the morning.
Wow! It was a wonderful day of hiking. We did see waterfalls and an area called Seven Pools. This is definitely a spring hike because I’m sure it is HOT here during the summer months.
Our second most exciting day trip was to Yosemite National Park. We wanted to view the waterfalls and valley this spring after all of the wet winter weather. We were not disappointed. We took a friend along who hadn’t seen the waterfalls before and it was fun to see everything from her eyes.
This is Yosemite Falls from a distance, taken from the Swinging Bridge. The river is up over its normal banks and nearly to the level of the bottom of the bridge. There is a lot of water!
We hiked to the top of Columbia Rock and this is the view from my resting spot. What an awesome perspective! We sat up here for a long time, quietly taking in the view. That is the Merced River down there as it meanders through the valley, near Yosemite Lodge (newly named Yosemite Valley Lodge).
Here is the view from Columbia Rock turning the camera in the other direction. Half Dome dominates the landscape. We never tire of this place…I would go back today if I could squeeze it in.
Closer to home, we saw this Mariposa lilyon a hike near our home. We normally see one or two of these at a time but this year the whole hillside was covered in them. I love the side view!
I need to share one image from my backyard garden. I chose this image because it has my Disneyland rose in all its glory and my Kona dog in the background. Look at all that green grass! After 3 years of drought, it is wonderful to see my yard all lush and green.
It has been an amazing month for our family. We made lots of memories, saw gorgeous views, discovered new trails, and observed about 50 different wildflowers (kept track in my journal).
Outdoor Mom’s Journal
Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world.
How Do You Join?
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 week 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…
A photo I would like to share…
Need help getting started with your nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study? Check out the fresh “Getting Started” page here on the website!
This has been a month of wildflowers for our family. The quote from the Handbook of Nature Study that I put on the front page of this month’s newsletterreally sums up my feelings well.
“Thus by beginning with the child in nature-study, we take him to the laboratory of the wood or garden, the roadside or the field, and his materials are the wild flowers or the weeds, or the insects that visit the goldenrod or the bird that sings in the maple tree, or the woodchuck whistling in the pasture.”
We aimed at going out to look for wildflowers and we were rewarded with meaningful nature study. The incidental things that came into view when we slowed to observe the flowers closely brought other subjects into view as well. The insect on the flower, the birdsong as we walked, and the snake and newt that crossed our paths.
Don’t ever imagine that you can study in nature one subject without being drawn into seeing the relationships between the amazing things happening around you.
Here is the results of our color hunt from the Wildflower and Weed Study Grid (May 2016 Newsletter). I have picked my favorites for each color for you to enjoy.
Light Pink
Dark Pink
Yellow
Orange
Red
Purple
Lavender
White
I am still keeping my running lists of wildflowers that we find by hike in my little journal. It is very helpful to stop during a hike and make some notes as we go along. Also, afterwards, sitting with the images and a field guide, we try to identify any flowers we didn’t recognize during the hike. I have learned about a few new flowers this month by keeping careful track of the wildflowers seen.
Wildflower and Weed Grid Study (from the newsletter)
Use the printable study grid from the May 2016 newsletterto inspire some wildflower and weed related nature study this week. Don’t worry about completing all of the prompts but rather pick a few that interest your children or you think will be easy for your family to accomplish.
This grid can actually give you a plan for a whole month of nature study if you work on a few of the suggestions each week.
You can also use the Nature Photo Ideas from the May 2016 newsletter as part of this week’s challenge if your child enjoys taking pictures. It is my hope that you can use some of these ideas with your children to get to know some of the wildflowers and weeds in your local area.
All of the archived newsletters are available at every level of membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study. I invite you to take a look at the benefits of membership and to see the great value it can hold for your family.
This week we are going to start a dandelion study. This should be something that almost everyone can complete without too much trouble since dandelions are found just about everywhere! I have seen them in the desert, in the woodlands, in parks, in lawns…keep your eyes out!
This is one of my favorite flower studies. Make sure to read the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study before you go out on your dandelion hunt. There are lots of wonderful and simple ideas to study dandelions in this lesson and I encourage you to try a few to learn more about this interesting plant.
Additional Resources:
April 2014 Newsletter– You will find a dandelion related nature journal topper to use in your nature journal. All archived newsletters are available to all levels of membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
You can glimpse into one of our dandelion studies here: Dandelion Morning.
This challenge is found in the Spring Nature Study ebook that members will have in their Ultimate Naturalist Library! Download a copy and use the custom notebooking page for your nature journal. More information on this ebook is found here: Spring Nature Study Ebook (including a sample).
We took the most amazing hike last weekend! It actually started off as a fairly rainy day but about noon the clouds started to thin out and we decided to take a chance and head out on a hike.
It is one of our favorite local hikes and we haven’t been down to the river at this spot since last summer. We were rewarded with an amazing display of colorful flowers which just happened to go along with last week’s Outdoor Hour Challenge – Pick a Color.
How about all these purple flowers? Top left is Purple Chinese Houses. Top right is lupine. Bottom left is larkspur. Bottom right is heartleaf millkweed.
Then there are the white and yellow flowers.
Last but not least, the red and pink flowers. Top left is checkermallow. Top right is Twining Brodiaea. The bottom left pink flower is new to us! Purple monkeyflower! Bottom right is a variety of Indian Paintbrush.
What an awesome wildflower day!
In addition we saw:
Chinese Lanterns
Pretty Faces
Mustang Clover
Indian Pinks
Miniature lupine
Yarrow
Goldfields
Wild Cucumber
Buckbrush
Elegant Clarkia
Vetch
It ended up raining on us right when we got down to the river so we had to head back up right away. It was still a terrific hike and we were rewarded for our efforts with a showy display of color.
The printable Wildflower Color Hunt is available during the month of May 2016 in the free newsletter. If you don’t already subscribe to the Handbook of Nature Study, you can do so during the month of May and receive the newsletter download link in your subscription thank you email. All newsletters are available as part of every level of membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study. See the Join Us pagefor more information on how you can gain access to the Ultimate Naturalist Library of ebooks, newsletters, and exclusive printables.
Note these are affiliate links to products I love!
Printable Activity: Wildflower Photo Hunt Use the printable list for your photo hunt…plus use the ideas on the page to create a nature journal with the photos when you are finished. If at all possible, let your child take the images!
How about a free printable notebook page? This one is good for all four seasons.
Note: You do not need to purchase the ebooks to participate but just so you know, the More Nature Study Autumn ebook contains 3 custom milkweed notebooking pages (including an advanced version) and 2 coloring pages. Click the graphic at the bottom of this post to go over to check out the Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.
