Flower Families and Relatives

For the last week or so the students have been observing the flowers that have started to bloom and are putting them into families based on flower(blossom) structure. Last week we focused on the Legume Family,Fabaceae. They learned that peas,beans,bluebonnets,and hairy vetch all had similar shaped flowers, and indeed were in the fabaceae family. They all were nitrogen fixers, and beneficial for the growth of other plants.
Legumes are hard to pollinate, a bee has to force the flower open to get at the nectar,and this causes the stamens to emerge and deposit pollen on the underside of the bee. We had to be patient to observe this process.
In the weeks to come we will study three other families: the Mint family(Labiatae),the Daisy family (Compositae), and the carrot family (umbeliferae).They all require different pollinators, and are host to many different creatures.

Thanks go out to all the volunteers that showed up for last Saturdays workday. It was really good to see the volunteers from Wilshire Baptist Church out in the garden with us. We really appreciate the effort.
(photos: Barbara Uskovich)
Madisen Haggard, 1st grade, finding good luck with a 7-spotted lady beetle during the garden work day.
Wilshire Baptist workers giving their all during the garden workday.
A pollinator visiting the hairy vetch on a beautiful afternoon.