Tree Roots

The weather here has been extremely wet making it hard for us to get out of doors as much as we usually do.  Today was cold as well as wet.  Finally late in the day the rain stopped enough for a hike.

As Froggy and I embarked I asked her to pick two things she saw during the hike to investigate further once we were home.  She immediately began listing a variety of things she wanted to investigate without even looking at anything.  Sweet and funny but not at all what I had in mind. 

As we toured the neighborhood, Froggy discovered that large sections of her regular sidewalks had been replaced.  This led to a captivating discussion of trees and how they grow.  I taught her the neat rule of thumb that I learned from my mom that a tree's roots need to grow as far out as its furthest branches. It blew her mind that the roots were so long.   And then we compared trees that grow more upright than full. 

We talked about creating a strong base for the tree and choosing the right location for the right

 I wish I had brought my camera with me.  We took a new side branch off of our regular route and found some lovely wildflowers.  We looked them up when we got home.  The first one is a tickseed sunflower, part of the aster family.

And then we found some black-eyed susans that we were able to get right up close.  Froggy loved the fuzzy leaves and stems.  She was fascinated with the strength of the stem.  It did not bend the way the other flowers in her experience had.