Some plants do not come from seeds. They come from spores. A spore is usually made up of one cell---a tiny bag of living jelly that you would need a microscope to see. Spores have a covering on the...
What’s in a seed?
A seed is a baby plant and a bundle of food all wrapped up in a package. Different kinds of plants have different kinds of seeds. Some seeds are as big as a baseball. Others are smaller than a grain...
Plant Ways
So W. W. Watt Have you ever wondered why leaves change color in the fall? Or why some flowers smell nice and some don't? Or what pine cones are for? Do you know why some trees stay green all...
Settling down to sleep
By the end of summer the plants have done their work. They have made their seeds and sent them out to find new growing places. For many plants, life is now over. But the trees and other plants that...
Plants at work
During the warm summer months all the plants work to stay alive and to make new life. Their roots take in water. Their leaves make food. Their flowers make seeds. As the seeds grow, the flower...
A butterfly and a buttercup
A butterfly belongs to the Animal Kingdom. A buttercup belongs to the Plant Kingdom. The butterfly moves through the air. The buttercup is rooted in the ground. They seem very different from each...
A world full of life
The days grow longer. The air is warm and the ground is filled with water. The new plants are shooting up. They twist and turn and stretch as they grow. They reach for as much sunlight as they can...
The world turns green
Now the tiny green heads of new plants are poking up from the brown earth and around the patches of snow. The little plants hold out their tiny leaves toward the sun. Their roots push down and spread...
Wake-up time
The winter months slide slowly by. The sun begins to shine a little longer each day. The air grows a little warmer. The snow begins to melt and soak into the ground. The earth grows warm and wet and...
Sleeping life
It is the flowers' nighttime . . . In many parts of the world it is winter, and the ground lies cold and hard beneath snow and frost. The sleeping trees are brown and bare. The dry, dead stems of...