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Outdoor Hour Challenge – Cocklebur Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge cocklebur @handbookofnaturestudyOutdoor Hour Challenge

Cocklebur Study from the Wildflower Set #2 Ebook (available in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships)

Inside Preparation:

The rough cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium L.) is a widely dispersed plant in North America. See the range map here at USDA Plants.

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.

 

OHC Wildflower Set 2 @handbookofnaturestudy

How do you get the Wildflower Nature Study Set #2 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

 

Wildflowers, Weeds, & Garden Flowers Notebooking Pages

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.

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Outdoor Hour Challenge – Wildflower Study Set #2

OHC Wildflower Set 2 @handbookofnaturestudy
Ultimate and Journey Level members can click this graphic to go directly to the library to download a copy of this new ebook. Make sure you are logged in and if you are having trouble with your password, please leave me a comment or send me a direct email to receive my assistance. Email: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Wildflower Nature Study Set #2

  • This 43 page digital ebook has 5 challenges and supplemental activities that will help you learn about some common wildflowers.
  • There are custom notebooking pages for each of the five wildflowers featured. In addition, there is a general notebook page for recording information for each of the plant families introduced in this ebook. There is also a page for use with any summer flower study.
  • I have included two wildflower related activities from the archives: Wildflower Photo Hunt and the Wildflower Big Grid Study.
  • Four coloring pages
  • There is enough material in this ebook to provide 5 weeks of wildflower study or more depending on how long you take to complete each challenge.
  • One of the resources in this ebook is a chart that coordinates each study with the Botany in a Day book.
  • Sample: Print an ebook sample here:OHC Wildflower Nature Study Set 2 Sample

Here are the specific flowers included in this ebook:

  • Henbit ( Mint Family)
  • Cow Parsnip (Parsley Family)
  • Columbine (Buttercup Family)
  • Chicory (Aster Family)
  • Cocklebur (Aster Family)

Note: If you don’t have the specific wildflowers listed above in your area, there are suggestions for studying an alternative flower or you can focus on the plant family instead. This ebook will work no matter where you live if you want to just focus on the plant families and use a local field guide to look for flowers you can observe during a nature walk in your own habitat.

Outdoor Hour Challenge Wildflower Set 1 Ebook

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.

 

Ultimate Naturalist Library June 2016 @handbookofnaturestudy

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

Outdoor Hour Challenge Wildflower Ebook two promo button

How To Get Started With This New Ebook!

Make sure you have a membership to the Handbook of Nature Study website! Click the Purchase Now button above or the Join Us button on the website. If you don’t already have a membership, use the discount code above for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Membership. If you are a member, sign in to your library and download the book.

You may wish to subscribe to the Handbook of Nature Study blog so you can receive the prompts in your email box each Friday. Also, subscribers receive my free monthly nature study newsletter on the first of every month. It is full of nature study encouragement, activities, and printables.

Handbook of Nature Study Subscribe Now

 

 

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Burdock Nature Study

Burdock Plant 8

Here is our burdock nature study entry..so happy to have had a chance to see it in person!

Hiking in Utah we saw an area with these plants that had HUGE leaves. I was intrigued and took a photo so I could later look it up in my field guide. I had no idea that what I was looking at was first year burdock!

Burdock Plant 1

Later on in the hike, we spotted these blooming plants and I was pretty sure what we were seeing was burdock. I had read all about this plant when I was writing the current ebook and was sort of on the lookout for it in our travels this summer. I apologize for the blurry photos but it had started to rain and we were moving quickly off the mountain.

Burdock Plant 3

Here is a closer look at the leaves.

Burdock Plant 6

And here is the underside of the leaf. It is much whiter than the top of the leaf.

Burdock Plant 4

Here are a couple more images we took to document our discovery.

Burdock Plant 7

In reflection, the plants and flowers are much larger than I anticipated.

The flowers look like prickly balls with purplish color. The flower is ringed with spiny hooks all around.

We noted that the first year leaves are large and wavy looking while the second year plant with the flowers are much smaller and less wavy.

This was a case of preparation in identifying a wildflower/weed…reading up on things and then looking for them when you are out for your Outdoor Hour Challenge time creates such a sense of satisfaction. Since the Handbook of Nature Study was written for a specific region, many of the topics are not found naturally in California. This never stumbles me since I view the time reading and researching topics for future use a very valuable tool in learning more as I go through life.

Did you find some burdock this week?

Cocklebur weed walking trail (3)

But, guess what? We found something right alongside our walking trail that looks remarkably like burdock. We snapped some photos and made some observations.

Cocklebur weed walking trail (7)

Doing some additional research online, we found out that this plant that looks like burdock is a the cocklebur plant!

cocklebur

Both the cocklebur and the burdock plants are in the asteraceae family…which is probably why they have some of the same characteristics.

What a great find and discovery!