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Happening
at the Crossroads:
August 9,
2010
by Coggin
Heeringa
This week, we are celebrating Door County’s flowers at Crossroads at Big Creek.
Everybody
can recognize a flower, but that is not the same as knowing what a
flower is. Family programs will focus on flowers and next Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday, August 16-18. The laboratory in the Collins
Learning Center will expand to be both a research facility and a
watercolor studio… with all activities helping us observe nature in a
new way.
Understand that not all plants have seeds, but if a
plant has seeds, it also has flowers. From the vivid borders of the
Heritage Gardens to the tall golden blossoms in the Crossroads Prairie,
each flower is arranged in such a way that it can make seeds, and for
that, it must somehow be pollinated.
All of the remarkable
shapes and colors and smells of flowers are mechanisms to get
something… perhaps insects… perhaps wind or water… to carry the pollen
from one flower to another.
The brightly colored petals and the
lovely (or sometimes nasty) odors help attract insect pollinators. They
come to plants to sip sweet nectar, but in the process of gathering
food, they accidentally carry the pollen.
Some flowers are so
inconspicuous that we never notice them. These flowers give off amazing
quantities of pollen which float around in the air until a few grains
land on flowers and the rest aggravate our allergies.
After
pollination occurs and the seeds develop, the ovaries change into
fruit. Fruit can be sweet and edible – apples and cherries are
examples. Or fruits can take the form of nuts or stickers, burrs, and
wings. Fruits come in a multitude of shapes and sizes, but their
objective is always the same: to help transport the seeds to places in
which the baby plants will not be in competition with their parents.
We hope children and their parents do not compete when they join the naturalist for the 11:00 Family Programs.
For information about Watercolor Class: description, tuition and materials, email watercolor@connie-glowacki.com.
The Historical Village at Crossroads of Big Creek will feature Pamela Parks
and Dan Phillips performing sets of music between 1:30 and 3:30 pm on
Sunday, August 15. Parks and Phillips are a daughter and father duo from
Brussels. Typically the two perform with their band, Parks, Phillips and
Co.,
playing Christian country favorites. At the Crossroads event, Parks
andPhillips will offer a simpler, acoustic sound and lend their voices
to hymns fitting the historical era of the village, 1880 to 1910, as
well as mixing in some more current favorites. The buildings be open
for tours.Admission is free.
Crossroads
at Big Creek is a donor-supported preserve welcoming learners of age
for programs in science, history and the environment. The Collins
Learning Center is open daily 1:30-3:30 pm.
The
Historical Village at The Crossroads is open 1:30-3:30 pm
Sunday-Thursday. Trails are free and open to the public. Pets, on leash
and under control, are permitted on the trails.
Thursday, August 12, 11:00
Family Program: Leaf Eaters
Join
the naturalist for a natural scavenger hike. Participants will learn
about insects as they search for leaves showing signs of leaf miners,
leaf skeletons, and galls. Free. Meet at the Collins Learning Center.
Sunday, August 15, 1:30
Chapel Concert: Parks and Phillips Singing Inspirational Music
Pamela
Parks and Dan Phillips are a daughter and father duo from Brussels.
Typically the two perform with their band, Parks, Phillips and Co.,
playing Christian Country favorites. At the Crossroads event, Parks and
Phillips will offer a simpler, accoustic sound and lend their voices to
hymns fitting the histrical era of the village, 1880 to 1910, as well
as. mixing in some more current favorites. Free/ The Chapel in The
Village.
Monday, August 16, 11:00
Family Program: Dissecting Flowers
Join
the naturalist on a short hike to collect some of the common flowers of
the area. Following the hike, the group will return to the lab to
dissect the blossoms, revealing theSecrets within. Free. Meet at The
Collins Learning Center
Tuesday, August 17, 11:00
Family Program: Flowers in the Herritage Garden
Families
are invited to join the naturalist in exploring the flowers found in
the Heritage Garden at The Crossroads. Participants will go home with
an “antique bouquet.” Free. Meet on the steps of the Greene General
Store.
Wednesday, August 18, 11:00
Family Program: Pollinators
Learners
of all ages are invited to a short PowerPoint presentation about
flowers, followed by a Short hike into the preserve to see the real
blossoms and to search butterflies. Meet in the Collins Learning Center.
Many of
the Past News articles may be retrieved from this
directory,
indexed and named in the following manner: 080101-news.htm
where
the first two numbers are the year, the second two the month and the
last two the date.
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