Early Spring Garden - Springing to Life

Lemon thyme, Oregano, Garlic chives, and Strawberry Blossoms

It is time for our early spring garden clean up where we start to tidy up the beds in anticipation of a new growing season. Mr. B and I spent a few hours in the garden trimming, weeding, raking, and enjoying the sights and smells of early spring.


Our front yard habitat is full of insects and flowers. The first of the season's yarrow is blossoming and the plants look super healthy. We weren't sure these would over-winter but they did beautifully...may add some more to fill in the spaces.




Hello little creature! These insects (some sort of beetle?) are showing their faces now that the rocks are warming up.



I love this image with my lavender and the bee! It seems like you are peering down into a whole different world. The lavender is alive with bees with their humming and buzzing. Go bees!



I know most of you real gardeners will shudder when I tell you that I keep part of my yard just for the dandelions. I love these happy yellow flowers and the bees agree with me too!



The bee balm is springing to life in the side yard and we pruned the neighboring bushes back to allow some more sunlight. I look forward to seeing the red blooms of this flower in the summer.



This is actually my neighbor's flowering quince that is blooming. I am sharing it here because it has inspired me to plant a few of these in our yard for next spring's color. Aren't they gorgeous? I am actually wavering between this bush and the redbud....haven't totally made up my mind yet.

So there is a little garden update from a sunny afternoon's walk in the garden.

It is not too late to print and complete the First Day of Spring printable or complete the Spring Splendor Walk challenge. Join us!



Jami's Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Fall Insects and A Pear Tree Update

Cooler weather means more time spent outside during the day....we went from really hot weather to cool weather in the span of a day or two. I am so pleased with these late blooming sunflowers and I am going to plant more of them next year. The insects have been visiting them every day and when I went out to snip a few flowers for the kitchen table, I saw this big guy!




This praying mantis decided to hang out on my stove one morning. It must have been pretty funny watching me try to scoop him up while he was hopping from side to side. I would try to scoop him up and he would hop just out of my reach. I would try again and he would hop too fast. Finally I got a bowl and set it over him and then slid a piece of paper under the bowl. Success! I transplanted him outside to my potted plants and he was happy to pose for a few minutes on the allysum.




Our butterfly bushes are still blooming, in white, lavender, and deep purple. I see the hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies all buzzing in and around in the morning sunshine. Makes me happy to see such a busy community right in my flowerbeds. We have spotted a few monarchs lately...none captured with the camera yet. They are fast!



We were out for a drive and took a back road only to find a pear orchard within about two miles of my house! It is tucked away off the beaten path and as we slowly drove down the lane I tried to snap a few images.....glorious fall pears to enjoy!

We are going out and about tomorrow so stay tuned for some more back roads loveliness.

Late Blooming Sunflowers - First Day of Autumn Beauty

My Prairie Sunflowers are now blooming...took all summer but they are now showing their very cheery faces. I am sort of glad they waited so long to bloom because all the other sunflowers are done and in the compost.

How would you like a great link to a some coloring book pages?
Celebrate Wildflowers




Apparently, flowers have a "biological clock". I have been fascinated with this idea all summer and I think it makes for an interesting read: How To Make A Flower Clock.  On that note, my Four O'Clocks are just about ready to bloom. I have been nursing them along all summer and I think they finally are getting some flower buds...need to watch for the bloom time.




We still have an abundance of insects in our late summer/early autumn garden. In fact, they are even more active from what I have observed. These bees were loving the trumpet vines...sharing at times with the hummingbirds. Make your own Bee Observations (free printable from HomeschoolShare.Com - Click the Bee Lapbook and then print Observation Cards and Pocket).



Our zinnias are such great performers and are relatively maintenance free except for cutting the flowers and enjoying them in a vase on your kitchen table. :)



We have enjoyed our container dahlias this year...seeds from Rene's Garden. I found this paper craft for dahlias...so very pretty and fun. Then again, I may just pull out the watercolors later and made an entry in my journal.

We are working on cleaning up the garden ... lots of trimming, raking, pruning, harvesting, picking, and composting going on here. Garden update next week.

Have a wonderful first day of autumn.

Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival - July Newsletter Edition - Sunflowers and More!

Summer nature study is so much fun! There is never any shortage of great topics and this carnival reflects how each family is taking the OHC and making it their own. (If I missed your entry, please email me and let me know and I will add it. The Blog Carnival website had some issues again this month.)

Thanks so much for sharing your nature study.

Make sure to check back tomorrow for the August Newsletter post with fresh ideas for your summer nature study. I will also announce July's giveaway winner in that post. 

July Newsletter Topics

Sunflowers

Kristin shares their mammoth sunflowers with carnival readers in her entry: Jack's Beanstalk May Have Been a Sunflower.  You can also read about and see their huge sunflower seed harvest in her follow-up entry: Harvesting Sunflower Seeds.

Tricia and her children share their sunflower study....their second summer taking a closer look. You can read their entry on their family Hodgepodge blog, Summer Sunflowers.
  
Mary Jo from Seeds of Peace contributes their Nature Study-Sunflowers entry for carnival readers. Her son did a great job with the details on his notebooking page.

Nicole and her daughter did a sunflower study complete with artwork and baking! Read on her blog, Journey to Excellence, their entry, Sunflowers.

Jenny from Grace in Loving Chaos joins the carnival with her entry: Nature Study Sunflowers. 

Bees or Other Insects

Backyard Beauties from Tricia's daughter's perspective is a great entry showing how when our children are trained to see common things in a new way they have gained a whole new window to their own world. My favorite image is the mimosa blossom....now that would be in my nature journal! Thanks for sharing your backyard with carnival readers.

Nicole from One Hook Wonder writes about their experience with Painted Lady butterflies as part of this challenge. My favorite part of the entry is when they release the butterfly and it goes straight to their garden flowers! Perfect ending to the story of the butterfly.

Brandy writes about their Creepy Crawly Critters on her blog Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood.

Tricia and her family had an bee/insect study in their own backyard. Read their entry, Bees and Buzzy Insects, to see how they learned so much about their bees and wasps.

Susan from Learning all the Time shares their July Nature Study: Honeybees entry with carnival readers.Make sure to see their very well done nature journal entries.

Tristan shares their surprise insect study on her blog Our Busy Homeschool: We Play in the Rain and Meet a Furry Friend. What a colorful critter they found...don't miss seeing it!

Nighttime Critters

The HodgePodge family contributes their Nighttime Critters: Flying Squirrels and More entry for carnival readers. They did a fantastic job of learning more about their nighttime visitors.

Ann from Harvest Moon by Hand writes about their Bats/Outdoor Hour Challenge. They went on a bat hunt!

Nicole from One Hook Wonder shares their Night Critters post...complete with a sound recording of their subject. 

Summer Weather Study

Kristin from Broom and Crown shares their entry Tiny Birds and a Blue Tailed Lizard. She tells how they complete their nature study in 110 degree weather.

Tricia shares their Summer Weather entry on her HodgePodge blog. They share one day of cloud observations and end with an art project! 

Potpourri

Angie and her son share their on-going study of the Yellow Pond Lilly using lots of up-close observations and the Handbook of Nature Study. I love the way they learn all aspects of a subject that is right in their own back yard (or lake in this case).

Heather from the Tully Telegraph shares their OHC #3 Green Anoles.  Don't miss reading their entry and seeing the nature journals. I love that each one captures a different aspect of their study. Great example!

A Little Fun With Our Fine Feathered Friends is a wonderful account of Kim's path of nature study. She reflects on her experiences with her older sons and then shows us how things are going with her younger son. Wonderful entry to the carnival! Thanks Kim.

Ann and her daughters share their Clover Study on her blog Harvest Moon By Hand. What an interesting entry covering so many aspects of this everyday plant. She's included some recipes again and some wonderful images. Ann also shares their Summer Cattail Study and their One Small Square Study with carnival readers. One last entry from Anne and her girls shows their wonderful Summer Tree Study, updating from their spring study.

Kristin from Broom and Crown shares a wonderful preschool nature study with carnival readers this time. Check out their entry: What's Under the Dirt. 

Kim writes on A Child's Garden about their Dandelions: A Bilingual Lesson on Plant Study. She used the ideas from the Spring Dandelion Challenge and then added some great activities. Thanks for the great ideas.

Beachcombing- Shark Teeth is another entry from Kim and her blog, A Child's Garden. She shows us how they studied shark's teeth using resources other than the Handbook of Nature Study....I love to see how families take the ideas from the HNS and apply them to their own subjects. Great job.

Serena from Casting Pearls shares their Nesting Robins with carnival readers. She has some beautiful images of the eggs and wonder nature journal examples. Don't miss the update to this entry where they make a positive identification of their nesting bird.

Kim also shares a great bird entry in their post Summer Bird Study: Blue Jays. She shows how their family pulled together a number of resources, including the Handbook of Nature Study, to make their bird study complete.

That completes this edition of the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. I look forward to reading your August entries and seeing how nature study is accomplished in your part of the world. 

We Need Bees

More than they need us........We need bees for a successful eco-system.
Learning how to create successful bee colonies is taking place on business rooftops in Kings Cross. An incredible program teaching young people how to manage bees is a collaborative work between Global Generation and local business.
I'm very keen in keeping an eye on the health and welfare of our honey bees. Totally selfish of course, I have honey for breakfast every morning.

Honeybees and the Great Sunflower Project - Nature Study Using the Handbook of Nature Study

Our choice for the Garden Critter study this month is the honeybee. We have been building a bee, butterfly, and bird habitat in our yard this year and it seemed fitting that we take a few minutes to read in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson 99) about this welcome guest to our garden.

We have planted many bee attractive plants and every day, rain or shine, they come to visit. Their favorite spot in the yard is the center square filled with lavender. If you sit close by, you can hear the buzzing of wings and you can watch their activity among the flowers.

Water for the Bees - Lavender and Baby Lemon Queen Sunflowers

We read recently online that bees need water as part of their habitat. We found a shallow pie pan, filled it with an assortment of local rocks we had on hand, and then filled it with water. The rain has kept it filled but now that the weather is looking like it will remain dry, I will just replenish the water when I water the garden. Here is a really informative article about Planting a Bee Garden.



We found this webpage very helpful: California Habitat Gardening and this one too: Bee Friendly Gardens.




This is what we are aiming for...image from two summers ago in our sunflowers. Can you believe that pollen?

We will be taking part in the Great Sunflower Project later in the summer. I highly recommend this nature activity which is fun and simple to do as a family. Click below for more information. 



Don't forget to post and then submit your June Newsletter nature studies to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Here is THE LINK. If you need to find the link quickly, it is at the top of my blog in a couple of places for easy access.



Jami's Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Ideas for Garden Critter Nature Study - June Newsletter Suggestions

As part of the June Newsletter, I suggested that you try to find a garden critter to observe and study using the Handbook of Nature Study. There are already quite a few challenges that feature critters that you may come across in your own garden. Using the Outdoor Hour Challenge does not need to take a lot of time. In fact, I originally started the challenges and expected participants to only spend 10-15 minutes outdoors with their children. You do not need to make your nature study into a unit study or complicated. In fact, the simpler the better since it usually means the children are following their interests. If you already own the Getting Started ebook, you can use the first five challenges along with the suggestions in the June Newsletter.

Here are a few links to challenges that you may wish to think about using as part of the Garden Critter suggestion in the June Newsletter.

• Earthworms (Spring Ebook)
• Rabbits
• Bees
• Ants (Spring Ebook)
• Robin
• Garden snake(Spring Ebook)
• Swallowtail or Monarch butterflies
• Grasshopper(Summer Ebook)
• Ladybug
• Garden snail (no OHC yet but covered in the Handbook of Nature Study)

Have fun exploring your garden or yard for something interesting to learn more about in your nature study. You might try to go outside early in the morning or later in the evening when the temperatures are cooler and there may be more critters moving around.

Make sure to follow up your study with the chance for a nature journal entry. Look up the answers to any questions your children may have either in the Handbook of Nature Study or at your local library. After you make your blog entry about your garden critter, submit it to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Remember every entry to the carnival is an entry in my June Newsletter Giveaway for a Squirrel Buster Birdfeeder.

Garden Focus: Bees, Birds, and Color....with Veggies Too

Flowers in Pots Attract the Bees and Hummingbirds...Easy to Maintain

My goals this year for our garden are a little different than those in the recent past. I usually focus on growing veggies and accent with flowers. This year I am going to be a rebel and do the exact opposite. I am growing color and accenting with edibles. I am hoping for more of an "artist's garden" this year, providing a space to sit with watercolors and colored pencils and oil pastels on those long hot summer afternoons. Sometimes a garden is more than just for growing food, healing and refreshing us with its beauty and vitality. Of course, you can really call it a "bee garden" since the focus has been on flowers that will attract bees, birds, and/or butterflies.

Our deck usually has some herbs and a few veggies in pots, keeping them close for the dinner time crunch. It is a great plan and I will do the same this year with two tomatoes and some basil.

We have had a lot of hummingbird traffic at our two feeders as well as the colorful flowers.

I am keeping just a few flowers on the deck and most of them will be to try to entice the hummingbirds up to the feeders. Red geraniums, bright daisies, and a hummingbird favorite lantana or two. I started my zinnia seeds and much to my surprise I found a pot full of milkweed growing already over in the corner. Seeds and seedlings are all tucked in ready to go. We are planning on studying our geraniums along with the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson #163) this summer.

Back in the main veggie garden I am going to be growing pole beans...Kentucky Wonders. I am dreaming of the green towers of vines and the never-ending picking that will come as the summer progresses.

Lots and lots of Bee Balm growing in the butterfly garden.

What will be missing are many of the water thirsty plants that I usually have that yield very little in proportion to the effort like bell peppers.I have lots of great plants that are well established that will give color without a lot of work.

These are coneflowers, chrysanthemums, and daisies from last year. I will fill in the empty spots with seeds.

The boxes this year are filled in with coneflowers and zinnias, dahlias and daisies. The bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds are going to be having a party all summer long out there. I love having a cutting garden to fill oodles of vases indoors.

We ended up transplanting a few daylilies to the front of the box and the rest is waiting for me to come finish planting the sunflower seeds. Thunderstorm rolled in this day and I had to give up.

My new garden space is coming together and the seeds are almost all in the ground. We had a composting problem and somehow a load was dumped in the garden space with un-composted rotten potatoes so we are sifting through again to get those out before planting the Three Sisters Garden (pumpkins, corn, and beans). The pumpkins, corn, and sunflowers will also be part of our summer nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study.

Happy Squash.

I have four zucchini seedlings happily growing in their new spot and the sunflowers are all showing signs of sprouting as the garden comes alive.

Looks a little different than the last time...now the lavender is the predominant plant, along with the blooming dogwood.

I am hoping that I don't regret our decision to shift our garden focus this year but as with anything we can always change things back next year. We have a wonderful Farmer's Market in our town where we can put our hands on any veggies we decide we need. Still eating healthy and with local produce....an important goal in our family.

That is this week's garden update.....next week hopefully I will share our Three Sisters Garden.



Jami's Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Creating a Bee Habitat Garden - Suggestions and Ideas

We are starting to build our new garden area to replace a huge portion of our backyard lawn area. It has been a dream of mine to take the water-hungry lawn out and replace it with color and attractive plants for birds, bees, and butterflies. My husband and I finally agreed on a plan and we started a week or so ago to build the first two garden boxes from recycled blocks that came out of our frontyard remodel last fall. We are on a limited budget for this project so we are reusing materials we have on hand and it is going to be a long range plan to add more as we have time and money. We did end up purchasing and hauling in a yard of garden soil that we added some of our homemade compost to so we could fill up our boxes. We didn't use the complete yard of soil in the boxes but used the balance to top off our vegetable garden boxes and fill two pots for patio tomatoes.


Here is the first square which will anchor the whole project. We found some lavender on sale at Home Depot and we added four plants.....bees no extra charge. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that there are bees on these blossoms every day, at all times of the day.



We also have loads of bees in the dandelions over on the other end of the yard. I counted quite a number of bees in the yellow blossoms as I sat and enjoyed their cheerfulness one afternoon. My husband is not convinced to keep the dandelions and wants to pull them up. I asked him to wait a bit and then he can mow them over.

Mr. B is my garden helper these days and we enjoy spending time outdoors together.

The larger box is going to hold my sunflowers and zinnias. I am including the Lemon Sunflowers in this box as part of the Great Sunflower Project. I was reading on their website about their change this year and they have added quite a number of other flowers to the project so you can count bees in your area.

If you want to check it out, click over and read on their website but it looks like you can count bees on include Bee balm, Cosmos, Rosemary, Tickseed, and Purple coneflower.

The two brown piles of leaf compost that you can see in the image above are going to become part of another bee garden that we may get to this year. The link will take you to Renee's Garden where she has collaborated with the Great Sunflower Project on a list of bee attractive plants for your garden.

The only other part we are planning on planting this spring is the Three Sisters Garden that will be a long row parallel to the sidewalk just behind where my son is working in the image above. The Three Sisters are pumpkins, corn, and beans that you plant as companions. I am excited just thinking about this part of the garden!!!


I am anxious to add in a few things as we have time and the weather warms up. My husband keeps telling me he doesn't see my vision for the yard but I told him to have faith and see what evolves. At the bottom of the post are the seeds that I am planting in the new larger box if you are interested.

That is what we accomplished this week in our new garden project but here are a few of our on-going bee/butterfly/hummingbird habitat garden projects that are a work in progress.


We have been working on this section of the garden for a few years now and it is filling in and growing more beautiful with each passing season. If you click the photo and go over to Flickr I have made notes of what each plant is in the image.


In our front yard we added some Moonshine Yarrow....this has become another favorite of the bees this spring. I am anxious to see how it grows over the summer since it says it needs very little water.



I have to share my new yard art piece that my dear husband found for me. It is a metal butterfly balanced on top of a pole with river rocks stacked. It is the perfect piece for our front yard. I love the way it moves in the slightest breeze and is a great addition to the look of the front yard. I decided it is all about movement...the grasses, the forsythia, the butterfly bushes, and now the sculpture.


It looks like you can purchase it on Amazon.com! This is a much better price than my dear husband paid at our local garden shop. I may just have to buy one for a friend of mine who loves this sort of sculpture and would appreciate it too.

I have enjoyed reading all the entries over on Jami's blog An Oregon Cottage as part of her Tuesday Garden Party. Welcome to all who have clicked over to read my entry!

Barb-Harmony Art Mom
I welcome all readers to subscribe to my blog...see the sidebar for a place to enter your email.



Jami's Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Insects - Nature Study Using the Outdoor Hour Challenges

#22 Butterflies
#23 Moths
#24 Crickets
#25 Housefly
#26 Ladybugs/Aphids
#27 Bees
#28 Dragonflies/Damselflies

Winter Wednesday - Winter Insect Study
Ants (Spring)
Mosquito
Moths and Fireflies
Crickets, Grasshoppers, and Katydids
Leaf-Miners and Leaf-Rollers
Yellow Jackets and Mud Daubers (Summer Sizzle)

Garden Update: Just Not a Great Year So Far

I wouldn't quite say the garden is disappointing but it is far less productive than in recent years. Could it be the weather? Too cold and wet early on? Too hot now? I know I was committed to having a smaller garden this year so it may just be that I have become accustomed to having more of everything and this scaled back garden is what it is.


The zucchini is blossoming but nothing to eat so far. This bee was so heavy with pollen he could hardly move. I have never seen so much pollen.


Our sunflowers for the Great Sunflower Project are just now blooming so we will have the opportunity to count bees and participate in that activity this week. The bees are far more busy in other parts of the garden.


Our butterfly and hummingbird garden is a hub of activity. Swooping hummingbirds, buzzing bees, and perching finches grab your attention whenever you are outside in the backyard.


Rainbows of colors fill the flower beds now that the day lilies, coneflowers, bee balm, and roses are blooming all at the same time.


Some crazy pretty day lilies in the butterfly garden.


Most likely my new favorite flower in the garden this year is this bee balm.




Sometimes you just capture the best moments purely by chance. I was taking a photo of this butterfly bush and the bee came along and entered the shot. Pretty cool huh?


The crepe myrtles are starting to burst out in color this week. We love this bush so much that we planted three more in our front yard last fall...so easy to grow, brilliantly colored when they bloom.


Another new to us plant in our garden is this Dusty Miller. Here are the colorful buds.


This is the shape of the leaf...amazing and beautiful.

So as you can see, the veggie garden is not all that exciting but the flowers are making up for it. Hopefully my next update will be filled with yummy delicious things to eat.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom