sunflowers – Amy Law, Science Geek

Patterns in Nature

I started off thinking this post was going to be about the fact that sunflowers make two different kinds of flowers, which I think is really interesting. When we think of sunflowers, we think of the big showy flowers around a central disk. But the disk is made up of flowers, too! And actually, theContinue reading “Patterns in Nature”

Sleeping Bees

While I was out rummaging in the garden several mornings ago, I made a surprising discovery: I found a bee asleep in one of my hollyhock blossoms. You’ll have to take my word for it, I suppose. But you can kinda tell by the way she is deep inside the flower, and yet not gatheringContinue reading “Sleeping Bees”

Hearts in Nature

Many people collect images of hearts in nature. I found this prairie coneflower as I was looking for prairie falcons this morning. (Focus on What’s at Hand) This is what prairie coneflower normally looks like. Prairie coneflower is in the sunflower family. You can see it if you mentally flatten the cone down aContinue reading “Hearts in Nature”

Mathematical Patterns in Plants

One of the things that I really enjoy about nature is that it produces proofs that it obeys natural laws in the most unusual — and beautiful — ways. This spring and early summer I ran across three examples of math in plants. Scorpianweed, like most plants in the hydrophyllaceae family, has a flower stalkContinue reading “Mathematical Patterns in Plants”