Black Eyed Susans
One joy that we have encountered in Nature Study is identifying and examining the various summer flowers that pop up in August and September.
Last September, I was walking through a boggy area near our home and discovered a small patch of Black Eyed Susans. The next day, I brought the boys out for a little investigation. The first thing we did was thoroughly examine one of the flowers. Yes, we pulled off the petals and somebody actually licked one of them. Then we poked around at the flower’s center and checked it out with a magnifying glass. I happened to bring along my handy and heavy copy of Anne Comstock’s Handbook of Nature Study and we went through her questions. Finally, we sketched. I keep a very nice set of Prismacolor pencils in our nature backpack. The colors are vibrant and the pencils are easy to move across the paper. We sketched the flower and identified it in our nature study books. We always date our entries because it is a nostalgic to come back and remember sites and sketches from days gone by. Hopefully, after having sketched, tasted and studied, they will remember the Black Eyed Susan when they see it out in the woods again this year.
Angelina's Garden 