Everyday Science: Plants

 Last summer, we hired a neighborhood kid to help divide our iris bed, which was a mess.  We gave away over 50 bulbs, moved several to the back garden, and mulched the existing bed.  There were broken pieces of bulbs in the dirt, which were spread over the backyard.  Surprise!  The backyard has about 50 irises.  I’ll post another photo when they bloom.  

Here is the original bed of irises—after we cleaned out the weeds and divided the bulbs. 

I bought a bag of zinnia seeds to try.  Usually, I buy small, seed packets.  Zinnias are hearty; I want pots and pots of flowers on the back deck.  The irises inspired plans for seeds.

It’s too early in our area to start seeds.  I need to wait another month before planting.   Your kiddos can germinate seeds in a Petrie dish,  a plastic bag, or a CD case.  I have leftover seeds from last year. Use old or new packets of seeds to do this Seed Germination Inquiry Lab, which has kiddos calculate the percents of seeds which germinate.  See how well the seedlings transfer into pots.  

A few years ago, I bought a pot of daffodils for  a Daffodil Flower Dissection lab in Biology.  

Below are the daffodils, now.  Daffodils double.   The backyard soil is challenging for plants—even weeds.  The soil quality is poor and soggy.  We gave up on lovely beds of plants.  Now, the existing plants all play survivor in the backyard.  I recommend irises.

I have good luck with amaryllis bulbs, too.  A friend buys the bulbs for her daughter every Christmas.  She gives me the waxed bulbs after Christmas.  I remove the wax from the bulb and stick it in potting soil in a planter.  The Amarylis like a bit of neglect.  The bulbs will bloom again—likely long after Christmas.  I have five plants, right now.  Two are going to bloom again soon.

Frankly, I like low maintenance plants.  Period.  One more easy plant is Spiderwort or Purple Heart.  We trim the plant and stick the trimming in moist soil. Voila!  More plants.  I foist plants on guests as lovely, parting gifts.  The Purple Heart plants look sad right now because it’s cold outside.  The big plant was too heavy to haul into the garage for a few days.  There were so many cuttings, my husband, Rob, just moved them close to the house.  They are playing survivor in the deck.  I’ll post pix again when it warms up.  But all the small plants were just cuttings from the large plant.  Make plants projects for your kiddos!  Which ones propagate?  How can you coax the bulb to bloom again?  This is science!