It’s all about balance—did you know that having insects in your garden can be a good thing?
Here are some of the “good” guys or gals we found along the North Perth Trail. We met a pollinator visiting the Deadnettle and a predator visiting the Barren Strawberries. Bees are exceptional pollinators. They spread pollen from one plant to another to keep the flowers blooming and to help produce delicious fruit—like apples. Ladybugs are great predators. They gobble up aphids—a smaller bug that sucks the life out of a plant. Can you think of other pollinators and predators that help out with our wildflowers? Keep Adventuring. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom.
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Nice Job Adventurer! If those were all from your lawn, then I suspect you have a lawn an awful lot like ours. I hear you weren’t a huge fan of the Salad, but brave of you for trying! Also, heard another one of your friends makes dandelion jelly. Now that I would love to taste!—maybe on toast. Great Job on the wildflower finds NPW KB. I love the pink trillium ...and of course the beautiful marsh marigolds. The smaller yellow flower is trout lily. Ray and I saw some white trout lily too.
Boo! Hiss! It may seem unsportsmanlike, but we are NOT cheering for Garlic Mustard☹️ This invasive plant originally travelled here from Europe. It was used as an herb to flavour their food.
What started as a good idea really hasn’t worked out. It crowds out native plants like Trilliums and Trout Lily. It destroys important nutrients in the soil and threatens several of Ontario’s species at risk. Where can you find this invasive wildflower?—well, almost everywhere...along the trails....in our parks. If you are not quite sure it is Garlic Mustard, rub a young leaf between your fingers. Can you smell the garlic? Do you have Garlic Mustard near your house? Keep Adventuring. You are Always in our Prayers. Love Mom For more information on Garlic Mustard: https://www.ontario.ca/page/garlic-mustard Our Public Library doesn’t have this book—and it isn’t available on Chapters or Amazon🙄 But I wanted to share how much Christopher Nibble loves dandelions too...So all the way from Walter Halls Primary school in the U.K........ Permission from Walter Hall to share:
Hi Diane and Ray, Thank you for getting in touch with us to check this ok to do. Not a problem at all - we're pleased others can share in the joy of Christopher Nibble. One of my own children's favourites too. Take care, Emma Beardah Headteacher, Walter Halls Primary School ‘Be Your Best I can’t believe it—I loved Dandelion Salad! In fact, I keep asking Ray if he can make more. It tastes like any dark green lettuce variety would taste, except the yellow flowers make it look prettier.
Dandelion Salad Note: Do NOT pick dandelions from areas that are chemically sprayed Ingredients for the dressing:
Instructions: 1. Pick dandelion leaves and a few flowers from a safe place (adult approved) 2. Wash the leaves and flowers really, really well, and dry them off—make sure you take out any grass! 3. Rip up the leaves and put them in a bowl 4. Mix all of the salad dressing ingredients together in a different bowl 5. Pour the dressing on top of the leaves 6. Put a few flowers on top 7. Eat your dandelion salad A huge shout out to Ms. H from Elma—She whipped up a delicious salad and added Jolly Jump Up flowers from her garden. Although some of her class were shocked that she was eating flowers, they wanted us to share in the experience. Ms. H said the flowers, “...have a gentle sweetness, not quite buttery, but sort of”. Thank you for your bravery. Keep Adventuring. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. Great job NPW KB! You said you would find ten flowers by the end of the school year and I think you are already there. I wonder how many more you can find?
1. We think it is a Pennycress—would love to see it in person sometime to be sure 2. Our friend the Marsh Marigold 3. Toothwort (a member of the mustard family along with Pennycress) 4. Trillium 5. Yellow Trout Lily (we have seen both yellow and white already this year) And about that #5 Ray wasn’t sure about last time...he has decided he things it is creeping Charlie keep Adventuring 😄 With this beautiful spring rain flowers are popping up all over the place. Have you looked carefully at your grass? Our grass is either really great or not so great, depending on how much you love wildflowers.
We made wildflower bracelets with our granddaughter on Monday and found six different wildflowers: Bugle Weed, Daisies, Violets, Forget-me-nots, Creeping Charlie and Dandelions. Can you identify which is which? I wonder how many flowers you can find in your lawn? You are Always in my Prayers Love Mom & Dad How to Make a Wildflower Bracelet • Find a piece of really sticky tape—we used carpet tape, but Duct tape would work too • Put the piece of tape around your wrist—not too tight—with the sticky side facing out. • Collect a bunch of wildflowers from your lawn • Squish them gently on to the tape Purple Deadnettle is not a native plant. It is an alien plant. Nope, that doesn’t mean it dropped from a spaceship, but it probably did travel here from Asia or Europe. It’s called “dead” nettle because it doesn’t sting like “stinging” nettle. So, it is safe to touch.
It loves early spring because it can take advantage of available space with little competition. If your family grows mint in the garden, the leaves look a lot the same and in fact, are minty! When we got home we were excited to find that we had deadnettle in our lawn. So, we brought some in, but the leaves definitely weren’t minty. It wasn’t deadnettle. Ray is going to mow around it until we can figure it out, but we think it is bugleweed. From the pictures can you see the similarities and differences. Keep Adventuring. You are always in my Prayers. Love Mom. |
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Ray & Diane HomewoodSharing the Blessing of Travel Archives
August 2021
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