Summertime Science: Garden Plant Families

 

Who doesn’t love their produce garden-fresh? One of the most satisfying endeavors for me personally is growing and harvesting food in my garden. Picking something right off the plant to enjoy myself or share with others is very rewarding. I enjoy the process of supporting the plants’ growth, and I appreciate understanding how each of my plants is related to the other wild and cultivated plants in our world.

I am fortunate to have the privilege of tending a plot in our local community garden. Recently I planted a couple of cherry tomato seedlings. You may know that tomatoes are part of the nightshade family (Solanaceae). If you compare the flowers of a tomato plant with those of a wild nightshade, you will notice similarities.

Tomato Plant Flowers

Nightshade Flowers

Flowers of both the garden tomato and the wild nightshade are perfect, or bisexual, flowers. They are star-shaped with five petals, and at the center, fused anthers (male part) surround the style (female part). Other members of the nightshade family that you may see in your garden include bell and hot peppers, eggplant, and potato.

Some of the other plants now in bloom are members of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae). In addition to gourds, this plant family includes pumpkins, squash, melons, and cucumbers.

Cucumber Blossom

Squash Blossom

A wild member of the gourd family native to Southern California is wild cucumber. Despite its name, it's not edible. The fruit is prickly and toxic!

Wild Cucumber (Marah macrocarpa)

Members of the gourd family typically have flowers with five fused petals. Flowers are unisexual, meaning that each flower has either male parts or female parts. It can be fun to hand pollinate these flowers. If you are interested in trying hand pollination in your garden, there is information about this in an earlier blogpost: 

Summertime Science in the Garden: Pollination

One of the showier flowers currently in bloom is the sweet pea.

Sweet Pea Flowers

My Daughter with Sweet Pea Flower Bouquet 

Sweet peas are members of the bean family, or Fabaceae. Flowers are bisexual with five petals. They have bilateral symmetry, with one large petal at the top and four smaller ones below. Green beans and other kinds of beans, peas, lentils, and peanuts belong to this family. So do many wild plants, including acacia, locust trees, and lupines. 

Lupine, Member of the Bean Family

If you have the chance, I highly recommend spending some time in a garden this summer!

If you would like to read other blogposts related to exploring science in the garden, see these blogposts:

Springtime Science in the Garden: Plant "Cousins" and a Baby Skunk!

Summertime Science in the Garden: Pollination

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Ideas for End-of-School-Year Activities

 

The end of the school year is an exciting time but also the most challenging time to hold students' attention. Who could blame students for wishing their summer vacation would only come sooner? Teachers are looking forward to it, too! 

Luckily, the end of the school year is also a time when teachers and students feel less pressed to delve into new material and can instead engage in activities that focus on the classroom community. I'll offer a few suggestions here for activities that have worked well with my students in the past.

Playing games is a fun way to review academic material. In a previous blogpost, I described a couple of games you can use for teaching vocabulary. Below is a link:

Low-Prep Games for Teaching Vocabulary

Bringing an easy art activity into the classroom is another idea. If you have a collection of magazines or can get donations, you can have students make collages about themselves. I described this in a previous blogpost as a beginning-of-the-year activity, but I found it works nicely as and end-of-the-year project as well. Here's a link:

Decorate Room with Student Collages

Service learning activities could take some preparation but can also be done simply by teaming up with a teacher of students in lower grades. For ideas of service learning activities, follow this link:

Students Give Back with Service Learning

One simple yet universally enjoyable activity is going outdoors for a walk. If you have a park or other suitable area close to your school, you could include a picnic or snack break. A walk could have the sole purpose of providing time for teachers and students to connect, but it could also be used to highlight material taught earlier in the school year. For more information on using nature walks as an educational tool, follow the link below:

Get Out of the Classroom and onto the Trail!

Whatever you choose to do, aim to provide yourself and your students with enjoyable experiences. There is always so much going on at the end of the school year, but having quality time together as a class is a nice way to close out the school year.

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