How does your garden grow? Seven-year-old wants to know
Sandy Camarillo, 7, a first-grader at MacArthur Elementary School in Hoffman Estates, asked, "How do flowers grow?"
Most plants have flowers, said Donna Danielson, M.S., plant expert at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle. Even elms and maple trees have flowers, she said.
Plants start as seeds. Seeds are like fertilized eggs. They are the very beginnings of a new plant. Inside, there's an embryo containing a tiny plant. The coating around the seed contains food that will keep the plant alive while it remains underground.
When the seed starts to germinate, an embryonic root grows into the soil, Danielson said. The embryo begins to digest the nutrients inside the seed. It uses up the nutrients as it grows. When it reaches above ground, it uses the sun's energy and minerals from the soil to continue to grow.
As the tiny plant inside the seed grows and stretches toward the surface, a root system begins to develop that will draw nutrients from the soil.
Seeds can be as small as a speck of dirt, like a lettuce seed, or as large as a coconut, which is a seed from the coconut palm tree. Some need warm temperatures to begin to grow, like Calla lilies, and other prefer cold climates, like spinach.
Flowers come in all colors and sizes. They are the part of the plant where reproduction takes place, where new seeds are formed. Many flowers contain pollen. When buzzing bees brush by the pollen and drop it into the flowers pistil, the seeds become fertilized and new flowers can grow.
Fruit is a part of that reproductive process. Fruit on a plant is when the ovary on the flower encases the seeds, Danielson said.
Want to grow fresh flowers in winter? Danielson suggests testing out your green thumb on paper whites, tall flowers with delicate white petals and a special perfume. When you put them in soil, it only takes about five or six weeks for the flowers to bloom indoors.
A real showstopper in the summertime is the geranium plant. Wait until the end of May to plant these in a pot, Danielson said. The nice thing about planting in a pot is that when the weather turns too cold, you can just bring them inside. They'll continue to bloom indoors throughout the winter.
Early outdoor bloomers at the Morton Arboretum are skunk cabbage and the flowers on maple trees, which begin to show in March. Skunk cabbage is a big, purple, funny-looking plant that's bad-smelling, Danielson said. Maples have yellow or red flowers, depending on the species. Bulbs that peek through the March snow are snowdrops, crocuses or winter aconite, all on display at the Morton Arboretum.
See mortonarb.org to find out about garden and activity classes for preschool and school-age children and their families.
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<p class="factboxheadblack">Check these out</p> <p class="News">The Schaumburg Township Library District suggests these book titles on flowers:</p> <p class="News">• "Alphabet Garden," by Laura Jane Coats</p> <p class="News">• "Flowers," by Gallimard Jeunesse</p> <p class="News">• "Flowers," by David Burnie</p> <p class="News">• "Flowers," by Joy Richardson</p> <p class="News">• "The Garden," by Isidro Sanchez</p>