100 Species Project - The First Fifteen

We're doing pretty well on the 100 Species Challenge since we started last week over on our gardening blog. Here are our first 15 species identified (plus a 16th we're rather unsure of) with links to the posts the kids wrote on each plant over on the gardening blog.

By the way, the kids did all of the photography, except perhaps the gladiolas from last summer.

1. Ornamental Apricot Tree

2. Tulips - More Pictures Here (I love how the red ones seem to magically appear amongst the yellow a few days after the yellow ones start to open up.)

3. Apple Tree (with beautiful leaf buds just opening up - this tree should be blooming in a few more days)

4. Rhododendron (Or is it an Azalea)

5. Crab Apple Tree (this one should be blooming soon too)

6. Daffodils

7. Rose Bush

8. Gladiolas (This one was kind of cheating. It's definitely not blooming right now, but one team decided to post a picture from last summer.)

9. Wild Pansies

10. Birch Tree

11. Buckthorn (Ugh. We're always trying to get rid of this stuff. It's not native to the area and is super-invasive.)

12. Dandelion

13. Wild Violets

14. Mustard Weeds

15. Phlox

16. Purple Iceplant?

Spring Hath Sprung

And the kids are finally tackling the 100 Species Project.

They've split up into teams of two - Ria and Kate, Gus and Bernie, Terri and Frank. Each team is required to photograph and identify one plant species per school day for approximately the next month and post them to the garden blog - if they'd like to be in on a chocolate-dipped treat at the ice cream parlor at the end. Should be fun!

A Nice Little Surprise for Laetare Sunday

If you weren't looking for them, you'd probably miss them (they're so small), but still, a fun discovery. Three or four years ago, we planted a bunch of these teeny crocus bulbs in little bare spots in the grass, and they're really fun to find because they come SO early compared to everything else. We do have some tulips pushing through, but it'll be quite awhile before we see the blooms.

100 Species Challenge - Throwing My Hat In

I'm going to try out this 100 Species Challenge that I read about in the Bonny Glen (click on image for other participants, courtesy of Lissa).

To start with, I'm posting my pictures in this Flickr set where we'll start to identify them and post them in bunches on this blog eventually.

And finally, here's the description of the challenge. Let me know if you're participating (you know, this isn't restricted to Catholic homeschool families in Wisconsin, or anything like that). :)

1. Participants should include a copy of these rules and a link to this entry in their initial blog post about the challenge. I will make a sidebar list of anyone who notifies me that they are participating in the Challenge.

2. Participants should keep a list of all plant species they can name, either by common or scientific name, that are living within walking distance of the participant’s home. The list should be numbered, and should appear in every blog entry about the challenge, or in a sidebar.

3. Participants are encouraged to give detailed information about the plants they can name in the first post in which that plant appears. My format will be as follows: the numbered list, with plants making their first appearance on the list in bold; each plant making its first appearance will then have a photograph taken by me, where possible, a list of information I already knew about the plant, and a list of information I learned subsequent to starting this challenge, and a list of information I’d like to know. (See below for an example.) This format is not obligatory, however, and participants can adapt this portion of the challenge to their needs and desires.

4. Participants are encouraged to make it possible for visitors to their blog to find easily all 100-Species-Challenge blog posts. This can be done either by tagging these posts, by ending every post on the challenge with a link to your previous post on the challenge, or by some method which surpasses my technological ability and creativity.

5. Participants may post pictures of plants they are unable to identify, or are unable to identify with precision. They should not include these plants in the numbered list until they are able to identify it with relative precision. Each participant shall determine the level of precision that is acceptable to her; however, being able to distinguish between plants that have different common names should be a bare minimum.

6. Different varieties of the same species shall not count as different entries (e.g., Celebrity Tomato and Roma Tomato should not be separate entries); however, different species which share a common name be separate if the participant is able to distinguish between them (e.g., camillia japonica and camillia sassanqua if the participant can distinguish the two–”camillia” if not).

7. Participants may take as long as they like to complete the challenge. You can make it as quick or as detailed a project as you like. I’m planning to blog a minimum of two plants per week, complete with pictures and descriptions as below, which could take me up to a year. But you can do it in whatever level of detail you like.