Nature Study Tuesday- Silverleaf Maple

The other day when we had to run into town, I decided to take the kids to the park. Since we live in the country, we don't get to the playground very often, and it's a treat. It was a beautiful day, not hot at all, and the hint of fall hung in the air and danced through the leaves.

After we ate our lunch of cheese and crackers, we wandered around for a while, enjoying the weather and each other's company, chatting about the things that we saw. The kids were especially intrigued by the tiny maple suckers that were popping their heads up all over the lawn. (It seemed to have been awhile since they had mowed. )

We talked about how the Silverleaf tree makes 'baby trees' from it's roots, instead of from seeds, and we were all amazed (Yes, even Mom) at the SIZE of that tree's root system! Then we decided to see how far away the roots really did go, and we found a sucker about 75 feet from the parent tree. Wow!

While we were looking for baby maple trees, we noticed some locust tree suckers as well, and so we got to see how this tree has a MUCH smaller root system. The kids thought it was so neat to see that not all plants grow from seeds.

A tiny white eggshell

We also found a bunch of pinecones and juniper berries, so we got to see the difference between pines and ceders. Later at Grandma's, Bop can RUNNING in, all out of breath and excited. When I finally got her to calm down, I realized she had found a Silverleaf in Grandma's yard, and she had recognized it herself, from the velvety silver leaves! Yay her, yay me!

I snapped this one of Baby Girl watching a road grader go by. :)

Fun!