Spying on the life of plants

I'm feeling too lazy to write, so please sit back and enjoy this photo essay of sorts on our exploration of seeds.

We put on fuzzy wool socks and gathered some of last year's seeds. We also gathered seeds by hand.

Here are some examples of the seeds we gathered. Some were neat and tidy like these. The big surprise was the cottonwood seedpod, resembling a small bunch of grapes. We had no idea that's what they look like before they burst open.

Other seeds were less cooperative, and made a tangled, spiky, fluttery, fuzzy and tickly mess.

Like these.

And these.

Some landed where they weren't supposed to.

Here is our dissecting lab.

We were especially proud of this beauty.

Its babies look like little bisons, or perhaps mythical horned slugs.

Here we are making a model seed out of a balloon, strips of newspaper and paste.

Finished seed model. Note that this seed is unusual, as two different plants seem to be growing out of it. This is not a result of a genetic mutation, but rather of having to accommodate two different artists with only one balloon in the house.

The end result of our explorations. Pretty, no? But it was all in the process.

Comments

[kim]

I'm in love with seeds. We have a big collection of all the ones we could find in a glass jar.

Did you know Brookfield zoo has a Friday nature swap where you can get points for natural items you found such as those, and exchange them for other items people brought in? It is a very awesome program. A zookeeper just sits there and listens to your kids while they explain what they know about the objcts they found.

[justyna]

I didn't know about the program at the zoo. Are you interested in going anytime soon?
I'm glad you posted some comments. I was beginning to think no one was reading (...sigh...)