Kidney-Leaf Buttercup (yellow); Spring Beauty (white), and Purple Dead Nettle (purple)

Early Spring 2008

Since the first wildflowers began poking themselves through the spring soil this year, we have been fascinated by them.  So we just couldn't help ourselves but to want to begin identifying them one by one.  On average we have been taking wildflower walks once or twice a week to see if any new ones have emerged.  We are seldom, if ever, disappointed!  Almost always we get to experience the excitement of finding a previously undiscovered treasure, just waiting for us to give it our amorous attention.

So, just how is it that we've been able to identify those wildflowers and begin calling them by name?  The wildflower identification process has been actually much easier than I, at first, thought it would be.  And of course, the process all begins with taking a wildflower nature walk!

The most important thing to do first before taking a wildflower walk is to make sure we have a way of recording what we find.  The best method that works for us is taking a camera.  If we want to do something different that day, we'll bring along pencils, coloring pencils and paper to sketch and mark details of the flower.  And on some occasions, we'll be able to bring one of the wildflowers back home for observation and maybe pressing.  The reason I prefer a camera is simply because you get a "real" picture, and it's less to bring along which encourages more frequent walks!  I also have to always explain "the wildflower walk main rule" to my children:  do not pick a wildflower unless Mom says it's ok!  You never know when it may be the ONLY one there is in the area!

Deptford Pink

Late Spring/Summer 2008

The first thing we do when a new discovery is made is observe and record.  I'll ask the children questions such as:

• What color is it?
• How many petals does it have?
• What do the petals look like (shape, form, notches)?
• Are the petals in clusters, or individual?
• What does the center of the flower look like?
• How close to the ground is it?
• What do the leaves look like?
• Where did we find it?
• Are there any other interesting characteristics?

We will record these observations, as I said above, either by photo, paper journal, or by taking a sample if the flower is plentiful.  Once we've returned from our walk, we will take our record and try to identify it by using our field guide of choice.  As I said before in my post, Nature Identification How-To's, I recommend finding a good guide specific to your state.  My preferred source for Kentucky is the internet field guide, Kentucky Wildflowers, but sometimes we will also use the book guide, Wildflowers and Ferns of Kentucky, by Barnes and Francis.  There is also a good internet site that is not state specific at My Wildflowers.  Most wildflower guides are broken down by season and/or color which makes wildflower identification a breeze (usually)!

Fire Pink

Summer 2008

There have been some that have been a little trickier to identify, either they are not found in the guides that I have, or as in the following example there may be some that look similar and if your detailed observation skills are not working, well, you may end up like us and identify them wrongly! 

White Avens

Summer 2008

Wild Blackberry

Spring 2008

Multiflora Rose

Spring 2008

Just recently we realized that the Wild Blackberry was not the White Avens.  And we only realized this when a real White Avens actually bloomed down by the creek in our backyard.  We had been calling the Wild Blackberry the wrong thing, for a few months!  And even before that in the spring we thought the Wild Blackberry (White Avens to us then) was the Multiflora Rose!  Clear as mud?!  Was to us too!  So you see, keen observation skills get built over the months and we have gotten much better at it!  But, thank goodness, most of the wildflowers are quite easy to identify.  But it's important to note that building great observation abilities is a very useful thing in life!

We have also, not to long ago, put together a notebook featuring the photos of all the wildflowers we have identified.  It is certainly nothing fancy, just a place other than our computer to keep a record.  I have one of my children write in the wildflower's name.

And Hannah choses to sometimes put a little drawing detail in too.  In the future we would also love to put some of our pressed wildflowers in here too.  We haven't pressed many this year (just the ones we found in abundance), but perhaps we'll add more to it through the years.

It's not too late in the year to begin identifying wildflowers, even in the "four-seasons" part of the world.    So far this year we've identified over 37 wildflowers!  And we expect that we'll be frequently finding new treasures all the way through late fall!  Happy wildflower discoveries!