While at nature club the other day I took a macro photo of a new wildflower so that when I got home I could look it up and identify it. When I uploaded my photos I realized that on this particular photo a little buzzing Halictid bee was caught in action too! Please click on the image to make it even larger. The wildflower is called Wingstem, appropriately.

Also, along the trail we came upon the biggest bunch of Spotted Jewelweed I've ever seen. The morning light was filtering through the woods just perfectly, making the dew drops sparkle and the fire orange color of the flower really showed.

And last but not least is another "new to me" wildflower, the Swamp Milkweed, found right down next to the creek.

The most fascinating and beautiful clouds are oftentimes seen right after a storm. Last night we had some very impressive storms come through equipped with high winds, hail, lightning (which seemed to keep the sky lit up constantly like a flickering lightbulb), and thunder that made me jump out of my seat a few times. When the first storm cleared out, and the sun was setting on the horizon and I grabbed up my camera and took these shots.

In this photo, the storm was just breaking up and beginning to clear.

The next three photos were of the western sky with the sun rays beaming upward and illuminating the clouds into different hues.

Before the storms the kids and I took a wildflower walk and got a few photos to share.

Gorgeous group of Crown Vetch 

Crown Vetch up close

New discovery..Trumpet Creeper!

Another new one to add to our notebook...Cow Vetch

 I don't know what this is, but thought it was so pretty!

Also, this morning we had another awesome Nature Club meeting, I'll post photos of that soon.

The woods are alive with wildflowers, one of which is this beautiful Wild Geranium.

And these Large Yellow Wood Sorrel, which are much larger than the regular Yellow Wood Sorrel we saw everywhere last year.

 And these Golden Ragwort.

Today we each took a photo of wildflowers and did some rock painting.

I think Gabby really enjoyed herself!

While we were painting, we were entertained further by watching the cat enthralled with our new toad friend.

The spring weather has been very stereotypical around here; one day sunny and warm, the next raining and cold. Cold and wet weather has been dominate however this last week, so it's been challenging to get outside as much. But we have managed to add a few more wildflowers to our photo collection this season.

Pennsylvania Bittercress (Cardimine Pensylvanica)

Pennsylvania Bittercress is a native plant that can be found throughout most of North America. It is commonly found around wet ground, along roadsides, and near the woods which is exactly where we found it. It is part of the Brassicaceae family (Mustard). It flowers from April to June.

Purple Dead Nettle (Lamium Purpureum)

Commonly seen as an annoying yard weed (can be invasive), this beauty blooms a really long time, from April to October. It is a part of the Lamiaceae family (Mint) and is a favorite of bees and butterflies alike. It has medicinal and herbal uses. This wildflower has been naturalized (not native) and can be found in the majority of the United States, and in many places worldwide. It is believed to have originated in Europe.

We have not been able to identify this one, which really irritates me as you probably know! But it is very pretty. I found it out in the open lot next to our house.

And what is this wildflower?

Oh, that's my Gabby Rose! She's holding a dandelion and sporting her new "cow boots"!

We KNEW it was only a matter of time. The spring-like temperatures have been calling their name for over a week now. We'd been out several times this week searching unsuccessfully. But today...jackpot! We found our first wildflowers of the season! And remembering back to last year, we had a good idea we'd find them in the woods. There are several species in the woods which shoot up bright and early in spring in order to catch those strong rays of sunlight before the leaves on the trees fill in and block it out. Last year the first one that we discovered was the Spring Beauty, but they have not bloomed yet, these beauties are even earlier. So, I've already started my photo-taking frenzy, so that I can continue to add more photos to our wildflower notebook. Without further ado, shall I introduce you to our new wildflower friends?  Please meet...

Purple Cress (Cardamine douglassii)

 

 

and

 

White Trout Lily (Erythronium albidum) 

 

The purple cress has not yet bloomed open, so we'll be re-visiting that one again soon to get a photo with it's gorgeous blooms wide open. This was the only patch of Purple Cress that we found today. The White Trout Lily on the other hand could be found sporadically throughout the woods. We thought their leaves were fascinating! Almost tropical looking.

Also on our nature walk we found a simply fascinating looking brown fungus. I do not know a whole lot about fungus, however I'd sure like to know what type this is.

Along with these interesting and exciting discoveries, we found lots and lots more signs of spring! Here are a few more photos from our walk.

The color green is so refreshing to see!

 

Aren't these leaves such a beautiful sight?

 

 

Sisters enjoy nature walks together.

 

 

After three days of rain, the creek is sweetly babbling along. 

 

Watch out for these terrible thorns. They come from the Honey Locust tree, quite abundant around here. Despite it's name, there is nothing sweet about these thorns. It's a safety lesson I've had to teach my children to keep clear of these trees. The thorns are like steel, they will poke through the soul of your shoe, OUCH!

I pray you are enjoying your spring whever you are! And that you are taking the time to stop and notice ALL the amazing things in nature changing around you.

"Omnia mirari etiam tritissima" (Find wonder in all things, even the most common place)

                                                                                                                              - Carolus Linnaeus's motto

This past weekend, we were so blessed to be able to take a trip down to Cindy's Farm, and wow does she have a beautiful place!  We had an absolutely fantastic time!  I grew up on a mini farm, but my hubby is from the heart of the city, and we've settled on the suburbs for ourselves, but my heart sometimes aches for the wide open spaces.   During our visit, I was so thrilled to discover and have been able to identify 7 more wildflowers!

However, as the heat of Summer is here and Autumn is right around the corner (can you believe that?), the wildflowers are slowly tapering off, so I am looking at this as a good opportunity to switch Nature study focuses.  I think, because I have been inspired by Kim at From His Treasuries, we may be switching to studying and trying to identify insects during our Nature Study.  I'm not sure, I'm going to be praying and then see what is presented to us and what my kids get excited about!  So I will be removing my wildflowers slideshow off my blog, and then updating our wildflower notebook and of course we will still add to it as we discover any more.

We have studied and identified wildflowers since early Spring, and we have successfully identified 57 wildflowers!  We've really enjoyed getting to know them and being able to call them by name.  We will continue to have an eye-open to discovering new ones through the Fall, and well I know we will always be aware of them now!  But, alas it is time to say farewell sweet wildflowers, thank you for your generosity in presenting yourselves to us and for sharing your immense beauty, and most of all thank you for continually showing us our Creator's hand in your design.

Here are the photos of the new wildflowers we discovered.  And at the top my my blog, there is now a slideshow of our trip to Cindy's farm!

Tall Thistle

Yellow Ironweed

Common Mullein

Round-Fruited St. John's Wort

White Snakeroot

Velvetleaf (Pie-Maker)

Jimsonweed

Our first day back to school went very well!  The first half was, I admit, rather rocky, but once we worked through our "boundaries" all seemed to straighten out.  We started off our day with listening to a Jonathan Park Adventure for Bible and then we headed outside for our nature walk and to catch up on the Outdoor Hour Challenge - Seasonal Tree Study (I will post on that later).  It was so nice to get back to the challenges!

Backing up a bit, last night we had an absolutely furious and very scary storm come through.  There were many funnel clouds reported around our area and lots of wind damage.  We, thankfully, fared well through it.  Here is a photo of the approaching storm facing from our front porch.

The good news is though that we got some MUCH needed rainfall.  So the plants all over were very thankful for this.  So this morning, while we were on our nature walk we were so excited to see that two new wildflowers had popped up, I suppose due to the wonderful rain!

Alex discovered them both, my little hawk-eyed nature boy!  He found them both down by the creek.   First he yelled, "A new orange flower!"  I immediately yelled out the warning command, "DO NOT pick it!"  We've had much trouble with this in the past you know.  I came over to find one solitary beautiful orange flower.  Take a look at this beauty (click to full size if you'd like)...

It is called a Spotted Touch-Me-Not (or Spotted Jewelweed).  Now, funny story, I didn't know it was called this until after I took photos and had handled it a bit to adjust it for a better picture.  So when I first saw the name I thought, "Oh Lord, why is it called touch-me-not, am I going to break out in a horrid rash or something!?"  So I immediately searched the internet for information, and was relieved to find out that I was going to be just fine!  And I also found out just how cool this wildflower is!

They are called touch-me-not because of their little seed pods (in the first photo above, notice it just to the right and below the flower right by the leaf, it looks like a little leaf itself).  If you even barely touch this with your finger (I obviously did not), it will explode like a balloon and spread seeds in multiple directions.  The technical term for this ability is called dehiscent.  Also the stem contains juices which are known to be an antidote for poison ivy in some people.  And this could be really handy because while we were observing this beautiful flower, Gabby was over giving a tree a hug that is covered in it!  Ughh!  This poor wildflower may become a "sacrifice" soon!  Also another cool thing, if you enlarged the first photo you may have noticed the little water droplets standing on the leaves...the leaves are covered in a waxy substance that makes them waterproof.

Before we were finished observing this one my nature-boy calls out again, "Mom, more new wildflowers!"  This time he had found the Heal-All (or Self Heal) wildflower; also known for their healing abilities on wounds.  There were about 7 of these all popping up just right down a ways from where we found the Spotted Touch-Me-Not.  You can also click on this photo to enlarge it.  Notice the delicate purple/white blooms?  They look like little miniature snapdragons.  And there's the most beautiful violet color just inside the middle. 

This was truly a special gift today to find both of these beautiful new additions to our wildflower discoveries!  I distress though that it was hard to come back inside to finish the rest of our table studies!

And one more thing...the rainbow promise after the furious storm last night was a pretty special blessing too.  Thank you Father for remembering your covenant.

And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."  - Genesis 9:12-16

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!