Posted May 30, 2015
I live in Southern California, and we have been struggling with drought, so I probably won't be watering any flowers today. But hopefully wherever you live, you have plenty of water and can nurture some beautiful May flowers and go all the way into June with loads of blooms!
You probably already know that flowers are a plant's reproductive organs, right? The beautiful colors, showy petals, sweet scent, and delicious nectar are all there to lure creatures from flower to flower, pollinating Flower X with the pollen from Flowers Y and Z, so that the fertilized flowers can make seeds that will grow into new plants.
Most flowers, like this hibiscus flower, have “male” parts, like stamens that create pollen, AND female parts, like the pistil with ovaries and a stigma.
Some plants have separate flowers that have only male reproductive organs, and other flowers that have only female reproductive organs, all on the same tree or bush. An example is an alder tree.
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| Alder male flowers, above, and fertilized female flowers, below. |
Still other plants have male flowers only on one bush or tree and female flowers only on another bush or tree. That is the case with most holly plants.
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| Holly male flowers, above, and female flowers, below, are found on different plants. |
Do some flower activities:
- Learn more about flower anatomy at Enchanted Learning.
- Do a flower dissection.
- Have fun with flower arranging. In this video, the man didn't water his flowers, he flowered his water!
Here are some of my favorite flower books:
- Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney
- The Legend of the Bluebonnet, by Tomie de Paola
- The Flower Fairy books, by Cicely Mary Barker
And here are a few of my favorite flowers:
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| Orchids, above, and columbine, below |
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| Iceland poppies, above, and lupine, below |
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| Pansies, above, and California poppies, below |
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| Sunflowers |
Also on this date:
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