1. Baby’s Breath, 2. Chinese Forget-Me-Nots, 3. Yellow Coneflower, 4. Pink ZInnia, 5. Light Pink Zinia, 6. Red Poppy, 7. Pink Poppy, 8. Wild Flower garden in july, 9. Marigold

We haven’t done any official Outdoor Hour Challenges since the middle of June. We have been studying nature however, particularly observing the progress of our “wild” flower garden. All the flowers have grown immensely with the sunflowers naturally towering over the rest. I think next year I will plant all the sunflowers in an area of their own because they seem to hide the shorter flowers that have begun to bloom. After the sweet william bloomed, the marigolds were the first to show their bright orange and red blossoms. About a week later we saw our first poppies: red, dark pink, pale pink, and now white. The baby’s breath, Chinese forget-me-nots, and yellow coneflowers have bloomed. The beginning of this week Cookie noticed the first zinnia to bloom. We have since found two more. It’s become quite the joy to go out to the garden in the mid morning to see what new flowers have bloomed for us. The sunflowers have developed buds and will bloom within the next two weeks I think. The children, especially Fudge, have learned to distinguish each plant by looking at their leaves. I need to get them each to pick and dry their own so we can add them to our nature journals.