Seed Saving With New Interactive Video!

As fall approaches in the garden it is important to collect and save the seeds from the plants that are growing. 

Did you know that most every fruit and flower grown in the garden has seeds that will grow into another plant? 

We can save the seeds and grow another plant next season by sprouting our saved seeds and replanting them in the garden.

We have put together a seed saving activity and video on saving beans, which are seeds. 

Beans grow in pods.  You will get to open up bean pods to collect and save the seeds.  Make sure to save your seeds, because in our next activity we will sprout them and grow a garden in a glove.

 

Cauliflower A Oregon Vegetable Harvest of the Month

Another great Video from Oregon Harvest of the Month.

Learn how to make Cauliflower Tots

Video below

Cauliflower Let's make Cauliflower Tots

Recipe

2 cups grated Cauliflower

1/4 Cup Grated Cheddar Cheese

1 egg (beaten)

3 Tablespoons Flour

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Mix and stir ingredients well.  Using your hands press and roll form mixture into egg sized Tots.

Bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes

Cool

May be reheated

Pears, Pears, PEARS

 

Enjoy the following video from Oregon Harvest for Schools on Pears. Paul and his dad who immigrated from Kenya grown tons of Pears in Central Oregon.

Pear, pears, pears video from Oregon Harvest for Schools

Today’s burning question. Is it OK to have slugs in my compost?

 No matter what I do I always have slugs in my compost. It occurs to me, is this OK?  Well The Grow VEG folks just posted this page today and I’m sharing it below.  Enjoy!

https://www.growveg.com/guides/slugs-in-your-compost/

Time to sow---again!!

Welcome to August!  As we are hip deep in watering, picking, processing, preserving and weeding we have work to do.  Now is the time to finish sowing seeds for fall harvest and overwinter crops.  In the Pacific Northwest where I live we experience an average of 268 growing days a year.  In July/August we sow seeds to be transplanted into our gardens or greenhouses.  Basically you sow in July/August the same crops you sowed in spring.

The Tomatoes are finally ripening

Every day bring a new harvest from the garden

Lettuce, carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic (October), zucchini, peas, broccoli, Cauliflower, greens, kale, chard, beans, …the list is long.  So let’s get started!

Sow your seeds in 4” pots, yogurt cups, recycled plastic beverage cups and leave them in a sunny/partially shady spot to sprout. Use a potting soil or make your own with equal parts of clean sand, native soil, compost and a sprinkle of crushed egg shells for good measure. Keep your pots covered with bird netting if you have smart Jays like I do.  I think they sit and watch me then swoop down and take my seeds! 

 Ants and mice will also steal your small seeds.  Keep your pots watered, do not let the top of the potting soil dry out or it will make a hard crust which will inhibit the seedling from pushing up.  Once you see the first set of true leaves (the initial leaves are the seed leaves) fertilize with a weak solution (10% fertilizer to 90% water).  As they grow you may need to transplant the seedlings up into larger pots if you do not have space in your garden.  Be sure to get them in the ground as soon as possible after their first set of true leaves show and they are strong.  Protect them with cardboard collars (toilet paper rings work well) and watch for slugs, pill bugs or pincer bugs.  These will mow your seedlings down over night!

Tell Tail signs of Slug Damage

Many crops like carrots, greens (which includes cabbage, kale, chard, spinach, bok choy etc) can be grown all winter long.  Sow them now to get a good start and you will be harvesting all winter.  Think ahead as you sow your fall/winter garden.  Remember you will be harvesting in the rain and cold.  Hail and snow makes it treacherous for me to walk down to the lower garden so I plant my winter garden in a closer greenhouse.  

If you do not have a greenhouse you can create a hoop structure using PVC and UV plastic. With each layer of cover you will increase the temperature by 5- 10 degrees.  If you live in an area that frosts regularly but freezes rarely these temporary  covers will extend your growing season and keep your greens happy all winter long.  

So things to do now:

* Choose the seeds you want to sow

* Choose the location of your fall/winter garden keeping weather and accessibility in mind

* Sow seeds with tap roots directly into your garden: carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas, potatoes, garlic, onions, shallots

* Make your own potting soil from compost, native soil, perlite, clean sand and crushed egg shells

* Sterilize your pots especially if they have had seedlings in them in the past.  Soak them in a 10% solution of bleach and water.  Air dry

* Sow your seeds following packet directions

* Water to prevent a hard crust forming over your seeds

* Protect from birds, ants and mice

* Fertilize once the true leaves show with a weak solution

* Transplant into larger pots if needed

* Transplant into your garden ASAP

* Start scavenging materials for cold frames or low hoop coverings

* Keep seedlings watered and protected from excessive heat

Happy Friday! Here’s your garden planner for the week from Mother Earth News.

Greetings, gardeners! In case you are new to the Garden Planner, note that our twice-monthly newsletters bring you timely gardening tips and provide a list of customized planting reminders based on your garden plans. Composting in the office often seems like a far-off dream, but here at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS headquarters, we’ve found an office-friendly solution: a repurposed trash can for the collection bin and a compost bin built from pallets. Composting is a natural process, similar to the way nature breaks down leaves and other dead material on the forest floor. If we want to re-create the kind of soft, fertile soil we find under the leaf carpet of a forest rather than the gooey muck of a marsh, we need to think of a compost heap as a living thing that requires the essentials of all living things: air, food, and water in a balanced combination when maintaining a healthy compost pile. Sowing and Planting Reminders from Your Plans You can click on any name to be taken to the relevant GrowGuide for that plant. There are no plants in your garden plans for 2020 which need to be sown under cover or indoors at the moment. Plants you can sow outdoors or plant out over the next two weeks: Borage  Cucumber  Geranium  Johnny Jump Up  Tomato (Large)  Tomato (Small)  General Planting Reminders for your Area You can click on any name to be taken to the relevant GrowGuide for that plant. Sow under cover or indoors: Broccoli  Kale  Sow outdoors or plant out: Beans (Bush Snap)  Beet  Broccoli  Cucumber  Kale  Tomato (Large)  Zucchini  (Please remember that dates for sowing and planting are general recommendations based on the frost dates you have specified. You should always consult instructions on your seed packets and adjust for your local climate and weather if necessary. Plants marked with a * are using custom dates that you specified for the plant or variety.)

Update on The Bridge garden - July sowing suggestions.

Yesterday we had a wonderful group of staff volunteers come to The Bridge garden to help with cleanup. It was a beautiful day and we got so much done! 

Please Comment below and  'Follow" us to get updated on what's happening.  👉👉👉

It was a joy to see my coworkers and catch up on their lives as we social distanced, worked and heard about their success stories with their personal gardens.

Bren helped empty the blue shed because we’re getting a new one!

Iya and Bren cleaned up tables and placed everything outside to allow it to solar sterilize.

Maureen deep watered because today is HOT

We found weird worms that I’ve never seen before:( Caenoplana is a genus of land planarians from Australia and New Zealand.  They are known to be in our region.)

Jenny weeded the beds

Tim and Michelle dismantled old garden beds and the compost bins.

Iya used her Tetris skills to pack the dumpster full!

 Who said video game skills don’t transfer to daily life?

It was a wonderful day with friends.

********************************

Here are your growing reminders for this week:

July means fall sowing. Here is a list of what to do now in your garden. Keep seeds covered with bird netting to avoid ants, mice and birds digging them up. This time of year I sow all my seeds in 4" pots because of the warm weather. IF you sow in seed trays they will dry out over night and not sprout.

* Sow leaf lettuce - I grow New Red sails, Butterhead, Olga Romaine

* Sow Broccoli- I grow Waltham or Calabrese

* Sow Beets - For beet greens and pickled beets

*  Sow Carrots - Danvers half long OR Yellowstone; 

       (carrots require constant moisture to sprout which may   take up to 2 weeks. This can be a challenge in the warm         weather.  I sow them in space vacated by other crops, in         the shade of another plant.)

* Sow Sugar Snap Peas - Pole or bush

* Sow Cabbage

Your winter squash should be planted but if you've not done that yet you can still get them growing before the fall frost.

Plan on looking into garlic. I plant mine in the fall in the greenhouse so it is ready to pull in May or June of the following year.

Gardens in Bloom June 2020

Greetings gardeners, this fun video highlights what is growing, blooming and fruiting in our school gardens.  Many of the plants you will see in this video were grown from seeds planted by Kalmiopsis Elementary School students in March before schools were closed.

This time of year is such a fun time in the garden with pollinators hard at work, we see beautiful blossoms, fruits and vegetables growing quickly before our eyes.  

Please share a picture or video of what you are growing at home.  

Early Summer in your kitchen garden

Good Morning Gardeners!

During a normal early summer gardening season in our 17C school gardens we would be gearing up for the summer food program, sowing and harvesting for the salad bar and processing the excess produce in value added products. Here is an image showing average weekly harvest from 2019.

This summer of COVID19 is different in more ways than one.  This summer the school garden education/farm to school crew and maintenance dept are working on infrastructure.  When students return in the Fall they will see two new greenhouses erected in the gardens.  We are putting our raised garden beds to ‘bed’ for the summer by covering with cardboard and wood chips which will help conserve water as we complete the work on rebooting both gardens this summer.

Even with limited growing activity in the school gardens there are always chores to do.  In this final week of June it’s time to start thinking about our Fall gardens.  Below is a list of  ‘To do's for you to consider working on.  Happy Gardening!

Farao Cabbage 

SEED SOWING

* Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli (Sow seeds in pots, flats, garden for late season harvest)

* Bean, Squash, Sweet Corn - Resow if first sowing failed

* Bush green bean - make ongoing showings in your gardens for continuous harvests

* Summer Squash, bean, carrot, fall cabbage, leaf lettuce and turnip - Sow seed in areas vacated by early crops

* Cilantro - make another sowing

MAINTENANCE

* Mulch around most plants EXCEPT Herbs 

* Leek - hill soil around stems

* Weed regularly 

* check for pests, white fly, potato beetles, squash vine borer, corn borer

HARVEST

* Zucchini, summer squash - harvest when fruits are 3-4” long

* English Peas - Harvest when pods are plump and firm

* Green Beans- harvest before pods bulge

* Pickling Cucumber - harvest when 2-6” long 

*Cabbage - Harvest central head, but leave plant to form smaller side heads

HAND POLLINATE

*Hand pollinate all squash for better yield

Week of June 22 - Let’s keep this garden going!

As our gardens burst out of spring and into summer we see a change.  From sowing cooler weather crops to summer crops that love the heat, the tasks continue on.  Everyone’s gardens are different and as such, keep in mind we  need to adapt to our micro climates as everyone has unique climates.  

The cabbages in my garden that I’ve so religiously guarded from slugs and cabbage moths are ready to harvest.  All 12 heads have formed at the same time.  This year I sowed Farao, a variety I’ve not grown before.

 I will definitely repeat this because we are swimming in Coleslaw and Sauerkraut! 

So what can I put in their place once I harvest?  The best rule of thumb I’ve read is think of crops as falling in to 3 different criteria.  Leafy, Fruiting, Root crops.  So once I pull the cabbage I’ll sow a root crop, probably carrots.   By always cycling through leaf, fruiting, root you will help you garden to avoid pests.  If you always sow tomatoes in the same place you will deplete your soil and invite pests.  As long as you keep the same cycle, Leaf, Fruit, root you will alternate crops and help your soil to heal.

General Planting Reminders

Sow under cover or indoors:

Tomato (large or small)

Sow outdoors or plant out:
Basil
Beans (Bush Snap) 
Peas 
Pepper 
Potatoes (Main crop) 
Pumpkin 
Sweet Potato 
Watermelon 
Zucchini 

As always, keep an eye on those pests.  They can mow down your well tended garden in a night.  Here at our house we have rats, gophers and squirrels to deal with.  It never ends!

Hand pick pests, squash beetles, slugs,

Mulch to conserve water

Cut off suckers on tomatoes and strip bottom 2 feet of indeterminate tomatoes to prevent blight.  Here's a good article on vertical growing.

Vertical Growing

Pinch tops of peppers to force side stems and increase your harvest.

Hand pollinate squash.

Consistently harvest beans to continue production.  If your bean runners are growing taller then your trellis, snip the top and they will bush out below.

Amend soil when re sowing with 1 hand full compost, 1 hand-full perlite per square foot and replant with an alternate type of crop (root, leaf, fruiting) 

Finally, continuing to build your compost. An even ratio of greens (fruit and vegetable cuttings and garden trimmings) to browns (dried leaves, dried grass clippings, paper bags or cardboard) and crushed egg shells;  layer it all with shovels of your native soil and sprinkle with water occasionally for the worms.  

Start thinking on fall sowing.  I know Fall you say?  Yes. Many crops for fall harvest are are sowed in mid summer.

Blue Orchard Bees

Hello gardeners!  Welcome to June.  Many of you have seen bees in our school gardens.  Bumble Bees, Honey bees and Blue Orchard Bees.   What is an Orchard Bee?  That is what we are going to discuss today.

Below is an awesome video created by KQED Public TV station in California.  It will provide a wonderful resource to learn about these important pollinators. Click the link below in blue to learn about Orchard Mason bees.  Answer the questions below and share a comment.  Don’t forget to follow us for more amazing information on your gardens.

https://youtu.be/

1. Where does the female Blue Orchard Bee lay her eggs?

2.  What does she use to build her nest?

3. What are the two large pincers on her face called?

4. Where does her food come from?

5.  How does she feed her offspring?

6. What is the house called that the lave spins?

7.  What does pollinate mean?

8. How many babies does a female Blue Orchard Bee have in a year?

Answers are in the Comments below!

Happy Gardening

Welcome to your June 2020 garden

Welcome to June 2020.  On this rainy Saturday it's time to make our lists and see what chores are on the schedule for this upcoming week.  I'm also going to introduce you to my  favorite resource book.

Chore list for the first week of June

Tomato, pepper, eggplant:

    * Set out transplants

    * Place mulch around plants

    * Place bamboo support next to peppers and eggplant

Cucumber, squash, melon:

    * Set out transplants

    

Strawberry:

    * Mulch around plants to keep fruit off the ground

All Crops:

    *protect from slugs and snails

Potatoes:

    * sow main crop

    * If you have potatoes growing, hill soil/straw around plants to increase yield

Leaf lettuce, carrot, beet, sweet corn, radish:

    * Make additional sowings in the garden

Bush type summer squash;

    * Sow seed for container planting

Garlic:

    *cut scapes and use in cooking so the garlic bulbs will form

Plants you can sow under cover or indoors in the next two weeks from Mother Earth News reminders: Cabbage, Fall Red - can you believe it?  They are talking about FALL! Plants you can sow outdoors or plant out over the next two weeks: Basil         Beans (bush and snap) Borage (we have a lot of starts at the school garden if you want one or two. Chives (garlic chives) Corn Onion Peas Pepper, Jimmy Nardello's Potatoes (main crop) Pumpkin Sweet Potato Watermelon Zucchini Flowers Cleome, Coreopsis, Daylily, Echinacea, Gazania, Geranium, Gladiolus Gomphrena, Impatients, Johnny Jump Up, Latana, Lemon Balm Salvia, Sunflower, Verbena, Zinnia Finally, Let's talk a bit about planning for a Fall/Winter garden.   I've provided you a link below to the best book I've found as a step by step guide to growing year round.  It gives a wide variety of information on how your garden can provide fresh organic vegetables all year long.  I know we're just getting our summer gardens going but by planning ahead now we will be ready to go this summer as we sow for fall/winter.  As you can see I use this book a lot!   Four-Season Harvest - Eliot Coleman

Succession planting

A BIG shout out of thanks to Siskiyou Seeds for this post on Succession planting.  Remember,  the sowing can continue through July as we prepare for a fall harvest. 

Planting Successions

Many summer vegetables will grow quickly in the long days of the northern latitudes.  Some crops such as green beans, basil, cilantro, carrots, beets, sweet corn and more will produce and then wane and finish their productive life cycle.  This is where planning for successive plantings comes in!

Take green beans, for example, they tend to mature in about 60 days and then produce a sustained flush for about 2 weeks and then they stop flowering and stop making pods.  So, the wise move is to plant successions about 2-3 weeks apart for a continual harvest. For instance if you planted green beans on May 15th, then you'd want to start another wave on June 5th and then another on June 20th and maybe even a 4th planting after that for a sustained harvest of fresh pods.  This year I’m tucking beans everywhere I have a spare plot of soil.  My new friend, Terry Allaway, inspired me to do so.  

In some climates, cucumbers and zucchini may become besieged by powdery mildew or other diseases so that their productivity begins to wane.  In that instance, you would be well served to plant a later wave that is coming into productivity as they first planting is tapering off. 

Other crops like cilantro, arugula and basil struggle with providing a consistent supply of fresh green leaves and the best bet is to replant more and then compost the early plants that may be bolting (flowering).

Root crops definitely require successional planting because the part we harvest, the root, requires the removal of the plant.  We plant a spring wave of carrots, beets, radishes and turnips in March and then another in May and then a final fall wave in late July (for fall harvest and winter storage

Lettuce is. Great succession plant.  As we come up to June 1st.  Remember to sow enough lettuce to feed you family for a month to keep the lettuce train going! 

Planting/sowing guidelines for the week of May 25

Hello Gardeners.  Your weekly to do list is at the bottom of this post.

This week looks to be awesome weather.  It will be sunny and check out that forecast high temperature on Thursday!  Yikes.  It’s a heat wave!  Then Saturday and Sunday a chance of showers.  

This is the absolutely PERFECT weather for getting your outside garden planted, seeds sowed and starts transplanted.  I know I’ve held some of you back  from going all in on the outdoor sowing but it’s time.   TIME I tell ya. Go for it!!.  

This past weekend the family and I spent about 6 hours total working on the squash layout next to the big greenhouse.  We used to have a chicken yard on this spot so I know the soil will be good and composted.  Plus this is at the bottom of our hill and the french drain that runs most of the year keeps the ground moist.  Add to the mix the commercial weed block/ground cover and we did it.  This has been in the planning stages for 3 years.  It just took purchasing a new DR. cutter to get it done.

As you start your sowing and transplanting be sure to label, label, label.  Did I remind you to label?  Please do label.  Especially if you’re growing out heirloom seeds for seed saving this fall.  

I scored an awesome flooring sample book at Scrap Humboldt in Arcata.  It cost me 3 bucks and I’ve used these flooring samples to label everything this year!  Since I’m growing heirloom crops and a lot of them I have been diligent at labeling.  

Find something that won’t wash away, blow away or the crows won’t carry away, ie painted rocks, cut out tags from milk cartons, cut up Venetian blinds the ideas are innumerable.  Use a permanent marker and be sure to add the name of the seed, approximate date planted and # of days to maturity so you can plan your fall garden.  I know, I know I’m getting ahead of myself.  But YES we will be sowing fall gardens. 

So what’s on the list this week. Here you go.  Be sure to Follow 

us and comment below with your questions or garden updates! Happy Gardening. 

There are no plants which need to be sown under cover or indoors at the moment.  Sow outdoors or Plant out.  Keep up on pest patrol and watch out for those nasty cucumber beetles.  They will chomp your seedlings down to nothing over night.

Basil
Onion
Peas
Pepper
Potatoes (main crop)
Pumpkin
Sweet Potato
Watermelon

For a more detailed list for sowing using soil temperature as your guide, Follow this link from Siskiyou Seeds .   

Plant Pollination - making your garden bee friendly

Happy final week of May.  Today we are chatting about helping our local native bee colonies stay healthy and productive by providing them the proper food from flowers.  In the Pacific Northwest we have many species of native bees.  Many gardeners in our region purchase, maintain and over winter our own colony of mason bees.  I currently have two sets of mason bees that have made their home on our property.  For more information on Mason Bees you can check out this LINK 

Questions for today’s lesson

1.  What are Mason Bees?
2.  Do Mason Bees sting?
3.  Where do Mason Bees live?
4.  What are 2 benefits of Mason Bees?
5.  How can I encourage Mason Bees?

To help us with this subject I’ve included a video HERE from the Big Bug Hunt.  (Note:  at the end of the video he discusses the garden planner which is a free app to help you design your garden.)

Enjoy the video and keep your eyes out for our local bee populations!!

Be sure to FOLLOW us and please comment below if you have questions or completed the lesson.  Happy Gardening

Making plant pots from school lunch waste

Welcome to sunny week 3 of May.  Here is an awesome video from the Main Children's Garden Project talking about how to recycle the containers you are getting in your weekly food delivery from the school district into plant pots to grow more food!

He talks about where to find soil and I’ll add one additional place.  If where you live has gopher mounds, this is the best soil.  It usually comes from a foot down as the gopher digs and pushes it up.  It generally doesn’t have weed seed.  So take your bucket and your hand trowel out and collect those gopher mounds! 

Happy Gardening.  Here is the video link. 

https://youtu.be/l5cVc5KjJQI

Here's your To Do suggestions for the week of May 18

Hello Gardeners!

As I write this I'm bathed by sunlight as the past 5 days rain has subsided.  As we all know, living on the SW Oregon Coast, the rain will return.  More than likely Sunday!

As we slog into out prime growing season it's time to get some chores done.

The list below covers all of April/May chores so we can catch up.  Happy Gardening and be sure to follow our blog and comment below if you have questions.

Here is an image of my personal greenhouse, it ain't pretty but it gets the job done!

Succession Sow in the garden:

Peas, onions, lettuce, dill and root crops (carrots, radish, potatoes etc.)

Butter Crunch Lettuce

Initial sowing in the garden or transplant your seedlings

Cabbage, Broccoli, potatoes, onion sets

Seedlings ready to sow

Start seeds indoors

Squash, Melon, Cucumber, basil

My favorite squash.  It's a vegetable but tastes and cooks like a potato

Thin Seedlings

Lettuce, leafy greens, carrots if planted in your garden

Carrots thinned but weeding is constant

First sowing:

Bush or Pole Beans, Peas

Heirloom 'Can/Freezer' beans from the National Seed Bank

Harden off - (place your indoor grown seedlings outdoors during the day to get them acclimated for a minimum of 7 days)

Tomatoes and Peppers, melons and cucumbers

I've sown some tomatoes in my greenhouse.  The seedlings are waiting for better weather to be transplanted outdoors.  I may need to re pot them.

Update on K School seeds

This video is dedicated to all our student gardeners. They met multiple times with our garden educator before the school was closed down due to COVID 19 on March 16th.

Perhaps the students remember their time sowing tiny seeds in their greenhouse.  Those seeds sprouted and were moved to my personal greenhouse to grow out until we received the OK to utilize the school greenhouse again.  

The seedlings were returned to K school and have been loving the warm greenhouse as their roots grow and grow. 

 Watch this short video to follow along in their progress.  Their next step is to be transplanted into the garden. 

https://youtu.be/qKdabdCJtqY

WHAT’S UP with our class pet?

Sheldon, our 7 year old Sulcata Tortorise has come out of her semi hibernation to a world full of clover. She lives in her indoor habitat in a heated house and sand pit in the winter.  During the summer she is moved outside to her grassy fenced enclosure.

Here are some questions for your students to research

1. What is a Sulcata Tortorise?  What other name are they  known by?
2.  What habitat do Sulcata’s live in?
3.  How big can Sulcata’s get? How long can they live?
4.  What do Sulcata’s eat?
5.  How fast can a tortoise travel?

I will tell you a funny story about Sheldon.  Two years ago we had sheldon in her summer enclosure.  Her owner, Daniel (our son) checked on her and she was gone.  Panic ensued with much calling (tortoise  don’t answer to calls but we tried anyway) and a thorough search was performed.  After 45 minutes we could not find her.  We feared she was gone.  I told Daniel, think like a tortoise, where you go?  To the greenhouse he answered!  We believe this is what happened.

Our greenhouse is down a steep hill about 150 yards away from Sheldon’s enclosure.  We figured she got out and started going for a walk when the smell of kale was in the air.  Tortoise have great sense of smell and kale is one sheldon’s favorite foods but she is not suppose to eat too much.  We assume she followed the smell of the kale and got going down the hill and probably could not stop!  The mental picture of this is funny.  We found her sitting next to the kale bed inside the greenhouse 150 yards away from her enclosure!!

Enjoy this video of Sheldon emerging for a day of doing what tortoises do!

https://youtu.be/jKVNQ7RZ1pU

The Story Of Flowers video

Creative writing lesson for all grades.

Have your student watch the following video called The Story of Flowers.  As a creative writing lesson have them choose one aspect of the video and write a short essay, poem or haiku about the video.  Please post their written submission below in the comments. 

https://youtu.be/vDpFyHmt0AE


Growing, blooming, rooting. Soil aeration, pollination. Enduring wind, rain, and pollution, dispersing seeds, and growing anew. Directed by Tokyo-based botanical artist Azuma Makoto, Story of Flowers showcases the life cycle of flowers as a wordless explainer. The breathtaking floral animation was illustrated by Katie Scott of the Welcome to the Museum books, with animation by James Paulley.