Theme: Exploring Wild
and Native Plants
Harvesting Wildflower Seeds
Since fall is when many
wild plants release their seeds, it's a good time to explore
wild plants' seed dispersal strategies, collect them for your
classroom garden, and experiment with methods of inducing them
to grow. You'll have the best chance of success if you harvest
seeds when they're ripe. Most of the wild plant seeds you collect
will be mature or ripe 4 to 6 weeks after they've flowered.
Have your eagle-eyed scientists carefully observe flowers in
your area, looking for a change in fruit color from green to
brown or black and a sign that the typically dark, firm, and
dry seeds are ready to disperse. Never collect seeds of any
plant that seems to be in short supply in a given area or that
you know to be endangered. Leave plenty of seeds so that the
plant can continue to produce new generations. If you're not
planting seeds right away, dry them in an area with good air
circulation for a couple of weeks and store them in an airtight
container in a refrigerator or other cool, dry place.
Coaxing Germination Indoors
Although they're billed as hardy survivors, wildflower seeds
can be challenge to germinate in your seemingly cozy classroom
setting. Most wildflowers from cold climates require a dormant
period of cold winter-like temperatures followed by spring-like
warmth to germinate. This adaptation prevents them from germinating
in the fall when subsequent winter conditions would prevent
their surviving. Your students may want to experiment with some
of the following seed treatments to encourage seeds from wild
plants to germinate in the classroom:
Scarring. Some seeds with hard coats will germinate
more successfully if you use a file a sandpaper to scar the
seed coat, taking care not to go deeply enough to injure the
embryo. Invite your students to examine why scarring aids germination
by looking at a bean seed and noticing the tiny opening near
the scar where it was attached to the pod. This is the micropyle
through which water enters. Try painting over the micropyle
on one seed with nail polish, leaving one seed alone, and scarring
a third seed. Soak them all in water, make predictions about
how they'll look in a day, then compare them.
Soaking in hot water. Some seeds with hard coats, such
as lupines, do best when placed in boiling water and then left
to soak in the cooling water overnight before planting.
Moist chilling or stratification. Many seeds dispersed
in the fall have internal dormancy, requiring a period of cold
before they'll germinate. Consider putting seeds in a bit of
damp peat moss, vermiculite, sand or potting mix in a plastic
bag or jar. Keep them in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 months
before removing and planting.
Creating a Wildflower Patch
You don't need a large area to start a wildflower patch near
your school. Consider starting small, perhaps around the flagpole
or in a 6-foot strip near the school. Contact a local Cooperative
Extension office, soil conservation service, nursery or garden
center for help assessing your site, planning, and identifying
and finding seeds for plants that would grow best in your area.
Have students take an inventory of the proposed wildflower area.
What plants are already there? Are there any native plants
or wildflowers you'd like to leave? What are the light and soil
conditions?
Find out which plants would grow best in your area. If you
decide to plant a range of single species as opposed to a wildflower
mixture, have students consider heights, colors, and bloom periods,
and design a map to scale on graph paper. If you choose to plant
a mixture, make sure all the flowers are appropriate to your
region. Don't be surprised if not everything comes up the first
year. Annual flowers will predominate the first year, followed
in subsequent years by increasing numbers of perennials and,
if poorly weeded, a succession of grasses and other weeds. Wildflower
meadows should typically be planted from seed during cool, wet
fall conditions. Some plants will germinate right away and establish
a root system before overwintering. Others requiring winter-like
temperatures will germinate with spring warmth and rains. If
you don't plant in the fall, you can sow seeds outdoors in the
spring when you'll also be transplanting any wildflowers started
in the classroom. (Seeds that need chilling should emerge the
second year.)
Why Wildflowers?
If you want to encourage children to develop a love and respect
for nature, consider those hardy survivors growing right outside
the door, in sidewalk cracks, roadside meadows, and vacant lots.
A transforming patch of wildflowers can help students learn
firsthand about adaptations -- for seed germination, pollination,
dispersal -- that enable plants to survive in their environments.
Students can begin to understand the role of wild plants in
preventing erosion and providing oxygen, food, and protection
for insects, birds and other animals. You can inspire important
language and history lessons by exploring how wildflowers got
their common or Latin names, or by discovering their folklore
and culinary and medicinal uses.
Wildflower Wisdom —
Planting Tips
- If possible, plant wildflower seed outdoors in the fall.
- Choose a wildflower mix or individual species appropriate
for your area.
- Loosen soil and clear out weeds before planting.
- Scatter wildflower seeds according to the seeding rate on
the package and rake them lightly. They should have good soil
contact, but should not be buried deeply. You can mix them
with sand for better distribution.
- Don't fertilize. (Most wildflowers are adapted to poor soils)
- Don't expect everything to come up the first year.
5 Easy Wildflowers
|
Wildflower
|
Latin Name
|
Planting Tips
|
|
Tickseed
|
Coreopsis lanceolata (perennial)
|
Sow seeds on surface. (They need light.)
|
|
Black-eyed Susan
|
Rudbeckia hirta (perennial)
|
Sow seeds 1/4" to 1/2" deep. (Can stratify.)
|
|
Indian Blanket
|
Gaillardia pulchella (annual)
|
Sow seeds 1/8" to 1/4" deep.
|
|
Columbine
|
Aquilegia canadensis (perennial)
|
Sow seeds on surface. (They need light.) Stratify
for 4 weeks. May not bloom until second year.
|
|
Purple Coneflower
|
Echinacea purpurea (perennial)
|
Sow seeds 1/4" deep. Try putting dry seeds in
a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 weeks before sowing.
|
One Person's Weed . . .
... is another's
wildflower. A wildflower project can help your students discover
that certain terms are relative and defined by circumstances.
A weed, for example, is often defined as a plant that grows
where you don't want it. But while black-eyed Susans may be
a weed in my garden, they may be a star in your wildflower meadow.
Typically, wildflowers are considered flowering plants, native
to a particular region, that grow without intentional cultivation
by humans. Many common wildflowers, however, were not native
plants, but introduced intentionally or unintentionally from
another area (e.g., Europe) and now exist successfully in the
wild -- some so successfully that they are considered invasive
weeds. Plants grown as wildflowers in one area will not necessarily
grow wild in another area. As you students explore wildflowers,
have them consider in which contexts each flower might be dubbed
a weed, wildflower, or native plant.
Author: Eve Pranis
Next Page
Page 1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8 9
10
-lo.jpg)
