Botanical Garden Visit at Roger Williams Park

Today, the Urban Naturalists took a trip to the Botanical Gardens in Roger Williams Park. We were amazed by all the cool plants from around the world!

One student checks out this very crazy pink plant at the Botanical Gardens

Look at the size of this leaf compared to the student! 

We even saw a lovely Coy Pond!

We learned a bit about Carnivorus plants while there. These plants have adapted to consuming insects because they live in areas where there is not enough nutrients in the soil to sustain them. Each has a special way of capturing insects. The two that fascinated us the most were the Sundew plant and the Venus Fly Traps!

The Dreaded Sundew Plant, part of the Carnivorous Plant collection

Click here to watch a cool clip by Sir David Attenborough that explains how a Sundew plant catches its prey

The Venus Fly Trap! A class favorite. 

A small Pitcher Plant was also in the Carnivorous Garden

Click here to watch a video about Venus Fly Traps and Pitcher Plants!

One student checks out the Venus Fly Traps

This was an Elephant Ear plant. We thought
the coolest thing about it was that the bark
looked like it had eyes!

This was the bark of the Elephant
Ear plant! It even has eyelashes! 

We took ten minutes to do some
scientific illustration

They even had a maze outside!

Look! We found a little surprise
hiding in the bamboo! A Praying Mantis Egg Case!

A Trip to Blackstone Park!

Today, our Urban Naturalists took a trip to Blackstone Park in Providence, RI. We did some work identifying trees and decided whether they were native or invasive. If they were invasive, we spent time figuring out how they ended up here in our local park.