Queen Anne's Lace Archives

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Barb — 7 Comments

Summer Cattails – Revisted Using the Handbook of Nature Study

“They usually occur in marshy zones along lakes or streams; and such a zone is always sharply defined by dry land on one side and water on the other.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 502

We did a little research about cattails in California and were interested to find out that it is considered an “invasive weed”. I can see where it might be trouble in irrigation ditches but it is hard for us to put the cattail into the invasive weed category. They are so green and pretty in the summer and they provide such a great habitat for the red-wing blackbirds and other animals as well.

If you remember from the spring we were a little worried that our cattail patch, wondering if it would recover from some pruning that the neighbor did to clear out their ditch. Well, we returned in July to check things out.

Our patch has grown back! The ground was nice and damp which was perfect for getting those cattails going again and the green leaves were sprouting up everywhere. We were so encouraged.

Here is the actual cattail part that is usually brown but it is still green in July. The shape is there but it is not the brown cigar-shaped flower head that we are accustomed to.

As part of the August Newsletter challenge, we returned again to our cattail patch and took a look at what had changed since spring and since last month. We were in for a surprise!

The county has dug up the creek just above our patch of cattails and has rerouted the water into a pipe. Now it appears that unless there is a spring for our cattails that they might be doomed without water.

We walked down the trail to our patch and it was still there but the ground is not as damp as it was last month. The cattails have turned brown and are covered in pollen.

I could just brush the flower head and the pollen would puff out like smoke.

“These flowers may be studied in the schoolroom with suggestions for field observations. A lens is almost necessary for the study of most of these flowers.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 503.

We were able to examine the different parts of the cattail, wishing we had our hand lens. We will try to remember to throw in the hand lens for our next trip to the cattails.

Here are some other interesting things we saw on our walk.

I have no idea what this plant is but it was right in among our cattails. The tiny seeds and the way it grows make this an interesting plant to observe.

Our Queen Anne’s Lace is so small this year…the plants are small and the flower heads are small. It is amazing to see the difference in how this plant looks from last year’s crop.

The wild sweet peas are just about finished blooming and all the surrounding areas are brown. The pink really stands out as you walk the trail….the bees love it!

I look forward to seeing some of your pond studies or any other nature studies you have completed this month. Make sure to submit your entries to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. You can submit your entries by following this LINK.

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Barb — 3 Comments

The Benefits of Nature Study

First of the Season!

“From constantly using them, all of his senses are keen-such as his eyesight, his hearing, and the rest. His powers of observation have been cultivated to a high degree of refinement; and let me tell you right here that a good observer holds, in any course of life, the reins of success in his hands-as compared with the one who is lacking in it-in a proportion that is truly remarkable. With good powers of observation comes good judgment and the ability to render correct decisions in many matters vital to success, together with the ability to assist others.”
The Nature Study Review

With our powers of observation, we noticed our first Queen Anne’s Lace blossom of the year! Success!

Posted on May 21, 2011 by Barb — 4 Comments

Queen Anne’s Lace: A Mid-Spring Update

We have had our eyes out for it. We have been anticipating it. It arrived almost overnight!

The Queen Anne’s Lace! Right alongside our walking trail where it was so beautiful last summer we found it sprouting up in large numbers. Look at the bright spring-green color!

Now I feel like we have completed our Queen Anne’s Lace cycle for the four seasons. All that is left now is to enjoy watching it grow and grow and grow.

Thanks Anna Botsford Comstock for inspiring us to watch this plant for a complete year. If you want to get started with your own Year-Long Queen Anne’s Lace Study, here are the links for spring and summer.

Queen Anne’s Lace Spring
Queen Anne’s Lace Summer

This might be a good time to look for it growing in your neighborhood too.

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Barb — 4 Comments

Didn’t Find Queen Anne’s Lace? Were You Still Successful?

After much observation, we think that these are Queen Anne’s Lace leaves growing in the other grasses.

The theme of this last week’s Outdoor Hour Challenge was a real challenge for many of you. Even in our family we had to think hard about where we might see some Queen Anne’s Lace growing at this time of the year. We looked in two different spots and although we found the brown, dried, hard stalks from last year, we were never sure we were looking at new Queen Anne’s Lace sprouts.

Were we still successful?

The real question should be…. Did we enjoy ourselves and did we learn something?

Absolutely.

Mule’s Ears and Blue Dicks are starting to bloom!

First of all the goal of *any* Outdoor Hour Challenge is to get outside and we did that with flying colors. The afternoon turned warm and we decided to take a long walk to look for our target plant.

The first California poppies we have seen this year!

Second, we had to really look closely to find our patch and then to look around to see if we could identify the Queen Anne’s Lace by its leaves. They were rather hard to spot but in the process of trying to correctly identify the Queen Anne’s Lace we were able to compare the leaves to several other near-by plants. This close observation would have never happened if we were not trying to complete the challenge. In fact, we had to take two walks to double check the leaves since after a little initial research we decided the first time we were looking at California poppy leaves and not Queen Anne’s Lace. We will still not be totally sure that what we photographed is Queen Anne’s Lace until we go back when it is blooming….something to look forward to in a few months.

Finally, this was the last of the year-long studies of this plant and it was satisfying to know that we had followed this plant through a complete calendar year, four seasons. We learned also that this plant is a biennial which gave us a little more understanding of it’s life cycle. It gave us a more full picture of the natural history of this wildflower and a better understanding of its place in our habitat. See last summer’s entry HERE.

We are looking forward to seeing the happy white clusters of flowers with their red spot in the center soon. Last summer we nicknamed the season the “Season of the Queen Anne’s Lace” because there was a bumper crop. It will be interesting to see how it fairs this year after such wild winter and now spring weather.

My best advice to any of you who don’t think you have Queen Anne’s Lace to observe this season, find something else to focus on this week and I would welcome your link in Mr. Linky. Here is a wonderful look at a family that did just that: Kristen at Broom and Crown.

Today we had more snow…hard to believe but it was just a dusting and now the sun is out and it is melting. My poor garden doesn’t know what to think!

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Barb — 12 Comments

2011 Spring Series – Queen Anne’s Lace Spring Observations/Spring Wildflower

Last year we studied dandelions as part of the spring series but this year I wanted to make sure that we are all on the look-out for our Queen Anne’s Lace. This is a plant that we started observing last summer and then continued through autumn and then winter.

Here are the links to those challenges:
Summer Study: Queen Anne’s Lace

Autumn Study: Queen Anne’s Lace

Winter Study: Queen Anne’s Lace (free bonus notebook page)

Inside Preparation Work:

If you studied Queen Anne’s Lace in the past, you may wish to pull out the completed notebook pages to remind yourself of the appearance and location of your Queen Anne’s Lace.
Read pages 542-545 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson 148). Glean some new points about this interesting plant that is considered a weed by many people.
Remind yourself what Queen Anne’s Lace looks like by using the accompanying notebook page or the Handbook of Nature Study. More information can be found here: eNature or the USDA.

Outdoor Hour Time:
For this challenge go back to your Queen Anne’s Lace patch and make some springtime observations. If this is your first season of observing Queen Anne’s Lace, you may need to wait until the flowers bloom before finding your own patch. Still take your 15 minutes outdoors and find any wildflower that you can observe in your yard or neighborhood.

Follow-Up Activity:
Spend a few minutes talking about your outdoor time. Did you see some Queen Anne’s Lace? Did your child have any questions about things that they found interesting during your outdoor time? Use this time to complete a nature journal entry or you can use the Spring Queen Anne’s Lace Notebook Page available HERE.

Planning Ahead!
Here is a link to a Squidoo page that shows exactly how to color your Queen Anne’s Lace with food coloring. I love this idea and we will be doing this over the summer. You may wish to add it to your seasonal activities: Queen Anne’ Lace

You may also be interested in my Spring Nature Study Ebooks!

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Barb — 1 Comment

Winter Weeds Along Our Walking Trail

Our world is slowly turning green and it feels nice to walk along and see the plants starting to awake for spring. We had our eyes open for winter weeds and we found some new things and some familiar things to share.

The side of our walking trail is covered in this plant with the nicely shaped leaves. I am going to watch it as the season progresses to see exactly what it is.

The California poppies are starting to grow and I can hardly wait to see their happy orange little faces in a month or so. Isn’t it interesting how it can grow right there right on the rock? Not much soil here but there are plenty of poppies sprouting up for us to enjoy.

Here is what our mullein looks like right now….all brown and the tops are covered in lots of seeds.

The Handbook of Nature Study says, “Later the capsule divides partially in quarters, opening wide enough to shake out the tiny seeds with every wandering blast. The seed, when seen through a lens is very pretty; it looks like a section of a corncob, pitted and ribbed.” (page 538)

This is the most interesting of the dried weeds that we observed. I like the way the bottom of the stalk looks like it is the skirt of the plant.

I can’t remember what this looks like in the spring or the summer….Does it have flowers? What do they look like? Now is the best part of the nature study experience. We get to watch this spot as the seasons progress and then see if we can identify it with our field guide. There is always something to learn and I am glad our Creator made us to be curious and he filled the world with interesting things to occupy our minds productively. (If you are a Bible reader: Ecclesiastes 3:10-14.)

Here is what it looks like close-up.

The top looks like this with its thin branching arms.

Our Queen Anne’s Lace looks pretty much like it did in the autumn.We had planned to pull up a specimen to observe the roots but we have snow today! We will have to wait now until we can get outside to finish our study.

I couldn’t decide on what I wanted for a journal entry this week so started a bulleted list of weeds we observed. I will add a few more as the month goes on and we see some more. I had room so I made a list of random other subjects we have come across this past week…sometimes it is just nice to have a little reminder to look back on in the years to come.

One last thing to share with you. Phyllis had this link in their winter weeds study:
Weed Collection Board – awesome idea!

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Barb — 4 Comments

Bonus Challenge: Winter Study of Queen Anne’s Lace

Queen Anne’s Lace August 2010 Summer Study

I woke up this morning and realized that I did not schedule a winter study for our year-long Queen Anne’s Lace activity. So guess what? I will make it a bonus challenge with a free notebook page for all of you who are participating in this year-long activity.

We started way back last summer finding our own little patches of Queen Anne’s Lace to watch for a complete year. You can read about that challenge HERE.

Then in the autumn many of us returned to our patch of Queen Anne’s Lace and did some observations and nature journal entries. You can read about that challenge HERE.

Now it is the middle of winter and time to return to our Queen Anne’s Lace to make some new observations.

1. Read the section in the Handbook of Nature Study on Queen Anne’s Lace if you have not done so before. This is found starting on page 542 or it is the last subject in the “weeds” section if you have a different version that I do.
2. Return to your patch of Queen Anne’s Lace to make some wintery observations. Look at the shape of the plant, the feel of the stem, the look of the flower clusters and observe the seeds. We have some Queen Anne’s Lace plants that we want to remove so we will be pulling it up by the roots. We will take the opportunity to observe the tap root. (Please do not remove any plant by its roots unless you have permission from the property owner or it is in your own garden.)
3. Complete a nature journal entry with a sketch or watercolor of your Queen Anne’s Lace. You can also use the provided notebook page.

Queen Anne’s Lace – Winter Notebook Page

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Barb — 1 Comment

Queen Anne’s Lace Study-Autumn Season Comparisons

We finally completed our autumn observations for the Queen Anne’s Lace in our neighborhood. The challenge asked us to go back to our patch of this flower and compare the changes since our summer observations. Most of the Queen Anne’s Lace looks like this right now…dry, brittle, brown, and stiff. We cut a stem or two to take inside to observe closely and compare to our summer observations.

We had a great time observing closely the flower heads we brought in and were able to observe some interesting things. The challenge suggested using a hand lens to look more closely at the seeds of the Queen Anne’s Lace.

Each dried cluster was made up of many dried flower clusters.
The large cluster was made up of more than 70 small clusters.
Each small cluster had over 20 seeds in it.

We drew a flower cluster and a seed after viewing it with our loupe. The little seeds were sticky and I found them in the carpet and the hem of my skirt after we had finished. We thought about our dandelion seeds (akenes) and how they are blown away in the wind and compared them to the Queen Anne’s Lace seeds that are definitely spread by adhesion or attachment. Our dog regularly helps disperse the seeds of the Queen Anne’s Lace as she romps through the weeds on our walks.

On today’s walk with the dog, we found a patch of Queen Anne’s Lace that is not quite dried up yet. There is still a little greenness to the stem, leaves, and flower head. We are experiencing some unseasonably warm weather with the afternoons in the 70’s. I actually took a walk without a sweatshirt and we worked up a thirst by the time we reached home again. We will be trying to get out in the warm temperatures again tomorrow….who knows how long they will last.

The season of abundant Queen Anne’s Lace is over but we shall be watching as we enter the winter season to see if the plants make much of a change.

Posted on October 22, 2010 by Barb — 3 Comments

Autumn 2010 OHC #6: Queen Anne’s Lace or Other Autumn Weed

Autumn Series #6
Queen Anne’s Lace Year-Long Study
Autumn Observations

“The object of this lesson should be to show the pupils how this weed survives the winter and how it is able to grow where it is not wanted. The weed is very common along most country roadsides, and in many pastures and meadows. It blossoms very late in the autumn, and is available for lessons often as late as November.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 544

Inside Preparation Work:
Read pages 542-545 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson 148). If you started your year-long study of Queen Anne’s Lace in the summer, these pages will be a review, but read with an eye to looking for changes between this season and the last. Pick out a few points from the lesson to use in your outdoor time observations. One thing that can be pointed out before going outdoors is the difference between Queen Anne’s Lace and Poison Hemlock.

Compare Queen Anne’s Lace and Another Weed in Your Yard

Where are the seeds located? How many seeds are there? What color and shape?
Look at the flower and/or seeds and decide how the seeds are dispersed. (wind, water, attachment, etc.)

Outdoor Hour Time:
Option 1: The challenge is to go back to your patch of Queen Anne’s Lace and make some autumn observations. There should be some dramatic changes from your last study. This plant is also called a Bird’s Nest or Wild Carrot and you might ask your children why they think this plant has so many names. Use the suggestions above to compare the Queen Anne’s Lace with another weed that you observe. Observe closely with a hand lens the seeds since they will be the most predominant feature of the plant at this time.

Option 2: Since I know there will be some families that do not have Queen Anne’s Lace to observe, you can substitute outdoor time in your own backyard instead. Find a different plant to observe if you can, any weed that is still present in your backyard will be a good subject for study. Use the suggestions above to compare any two weeds you find. Remember the most important aspect of any challenge is to find something of interest to your child…even weeds can be interesting if you take the time to look closely.

In Addition to Options 1 and 2:
Collect a few autumn weeds to bring inside to observe. Look at the leaves, the dried flowers (if any), and any seeds or pods. Make note of the colors and textures.

Collect a variety of seeds from weeds in your yard or neighborhood, perhaps placing each different kind of seed in a separate plastic sandwich bag. Sketch a few of the seeds in your journal and label the drawing with the plant’s name (if you know it), the date, the location you collected the seed from, and how you think the seed is dispersed.

Follow-Up Activity:
If you didn’t have the opportunity to talk about Queen Anne’s Lace or weeds during your outdoor time, take a few minutes to discuss your discoveries. Complete the Queen Anne’s Lace notebook page or the other autumn weed study page in the ebook or make an entry in your own blank journal. If you haven’t done so already, complete a Venn Diagram comparing two plants you observed during your outdoor time. Display your weeds in a vase.

Note: This nature study challenge can be found in the Autumn 2010 ebook.

If you would like to own this ebook, it is part of the Ultimate Naturalist Library for members. You can find more details on how to get your own membership here: Join Us!

Ultimate Ebook Library @handbookofnaturestudy

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Posted on September 26, 2010 by Barb — 1 Comment

Another Cricket and Some Queen Anne’s Lace

So we were out for a walk and I decided to take a photo of the Queen Anne’s Lace with all its seeds and the clusters. It is so pretty even now that it is drying up in the September drought.

I was excited to see an insect on the top of one of the seed clusters! It looks like a cricket to me. Just look at those really long antennae!

A wonderful surprise to add even more joy to our walk.

Tag: Queen Anne’s Lace