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© Copyright 2008, Mountain Kids
Magazine, LLC

Summer 2008
Gunnison/Crested Butte Colorado Family
Activity Guide

Features

Learning The Flowers With Children
Katherine Darrow



In 1983, Crested Butte was designated as the Wildflower Capital of Colorado. The abundance and diversity of wildflowers are among the best in the mountains of Colorado.

“Stay together, Learn the flowers, Go light.”
From “For the Children” by Gary Snyder in Turtle Island

One of the most memorable lessons in environmental ethics that I had as a child came from being reprimanded by a park ranger for picking wildflowers. Being a curious young naturalist, the scolding did not make sense to me at the time. I ran off into the woods and hid from my parents, defiant and angry. When my distressed family found me half an hour later, I was given a spanking. It is this moment that I like to believe fueled my desire to grow up to be a professional botanist, which entitles one to not only pick, but uproot entire plants, rare and otherwise, in the name of science.

Twenty years later, when I began taking my young daughter for hikes, I wanted to find a way for her to use her natural inclination to pick wildflowers as a way to learn about plants, but also understand why we may want to let them live on to produce seeds.

Our rule became that we could collect one of each kind, as long as there were at least fifty of a kind in our sight. Brooke happily respected the rule, and was able to assemble a beautiful bouquet while unwittingly learning basic concepts in botany. Species identification (Is this one different from the ones you already picked?), plant diversity (How many different kinds do we have in this meadow?), community ecology (How is the bouquet from the meadow different from the one we gathered in the aspen forest?), and simple field survey methods (Are there a lot or just a few of this kind of flower here?) were surreptitiously taught as we explored the trails.

With a basic awareness of what plants to avoid, kids also learn best if we create a multi-sensory experience along the way. To know the wild rose, sagebrush, wild onion and wild mint for instance, one must smell them. Eating the ripe fruit of chokecherry won’t actually choke you, but the sour taste will help you understand how the plant got its name. There is nothing quite as sweet as the fruit of a wild strawberry or raspberry. The easiest way to tell the difference between a fir tree and a spruce tree is to feel their needles. Firs are soft and spruces are sharp. On a breezy day, close your eyes and listen to the sound of fluttering leaves while you rest in a grove of quaking aspen.

Legends that have been passed on for millennia tell of magical and transformative powers of plants. I like to tell the Legend of the Indian Paintbrush and Legend of the Bluebonnet, both beautifully illustrated in books by Tomie dePaola. Paintbrushes and bluebonnets (aka lupines) are abundant in the mountains of Colorado and throughout the western states. According to these legends, the flowers are gifts bestowed on us by the gods to reward the talents, patience, and generosity of children.

Every wildflower has a story. You’ll find lots of folk tales, life history, and information on medicinal and edible plants in the numerous field guides available for the Rocky Mountains. Be sure to check out “Wild About Wildflowers,” a field guide written especially for the Crested Butte area that is loaded with great photos and information about plants in the region. Whenever we can share a little extra information about a plant with our children, and have fun at the same time, the more likely they will learn to regard them as living beings to be cared for. Who knows, maybe your young naturalist will grow up to be a botanist!

Activity: Wildflower Bingo
Scavenger hunts are great ways to learn and keep kids moving along a trail. Use this simple list to spark some interest next time you go out for a hike. Bring along a paper bag to collect things in, or just check them off on your list.
Fuzzy leaf
Smooth leaf
Seedpod
White flower
Yellow flower
Blue flower
Red flower
Purple flower
Leaf that is bigger than your hand
A flower that smells sweet
A flower with an insect visitor
A flower that grows on a bush

Please Pick the Daisies!
For the same reason we do not pick flowers in someone’s private garden without special permission, picking wildflowers in National Forests, National Parks and other wildlands is generally discouraged. We want the plants to produce seeds so that new plants can grow, and we want to leave them for other people to enjoy. But some plants are weeds that we would like to get rid of. Around Crested Butte, Oxeye Daisies and Chamomile Daisies flourish along some trails and roadsides. We invite you to pick as many of these invasive plants as you want to, because we would rather they did NOT produce more seeds! Why? Because these plants are not native to North America and tend to take over land that native plants need to thrive. Invasive weeds like these may also distract pollinators that normally visit native plants, making it harder for native wildflowers to produce seeds. So PLEASE pick the daisies!

How to Make a Daisy Chain
Make a crown of daisies for yourself, the dog, and all the kids! To begin, gather a bunch of daisies, keeping the stems as long as possible. Take three stems from your bunch and begin braiding them together. Add in a new daisy every inch or so, lining up new stems with old ones and continue braiding. See who can make the longest chain, or make a head wreath by tucking the ends of the chain into the beginning.