More science and observation with flowers!  Violets and Irises are two lovely flowers that grow from two different sources.  One is from a seed and one is from a bulb.  This would be a great discussion to have with young children, because it is too easy for young minds (even older ones) to assume that all plants come from a seed.  Seeds are more commonly discussed and showcased in books and other media, so it is a good idea to show the difference with a variety of colorful and lovely flowers. 🙂

  Violets are so pretty this time of year!  They travel all over the yard and right now a good portion of my side yard are filled with them.  The great thing is you can supply young children with good quality magnifying glasses and let them explore up close and personal each bunch they can locate.  The other great thing for me is when they have bloomed out, I just pull them up and because they reseed, new and fresh flowers bloom once more! 🙂

  If anyone knows what kind of annual this flower is I would love it if you could enlighten me.  I planted this last year and somehow it wintered over!  I lost the tag, so I just don’t remember what the name is.  Comment on my post if you know. 🙂

  The lovely rain has come and is working on keeping the plants well hydrated and green!  This is the iris I mentioned in an earlier post.  And guess what?  I managed to capture a resting bee!  Anyway, this iris is a bit deceiving at first because the buds make it appear to be a lovely deep purple, yet when in full bloom you can see the cream color takes center stage and the deep purple fans out into a lovely warm plum.  Flowers that change in color are also a wonderful discussion topic for young and curious minds. 🙂

Please share your flower experiences and any plant explorations your child or class has been up to this spring.  I would love to read about them too! 🙂

Heidi, The Marigold School of Early Learning