Gardening

I mentioned that Isaac and I have been doing some gardening together recently. (He seems to have forgotten his need to torment me by standing in the flower beds.) Last year at this time he was busy learning new words associated with springtime and the great outdoors. Now he's busy learning plant identification.

Well, he's been learning this for a while. Even last spring he could tell the difference between roses, daffodils, daisies, orchids, and poppies. By summer he could identify a wide variety of plants, and he seemed to care about their well-being. Sometimes he would ask to go outside just to check out the annuals we'd planted. Then he'd say, "See how our zinnias doing. Look happy!" And in September I was unreasonably proud when, after I showed him one of our several flowering maples, he said, "Another on little hill." He led me over there and, without prompting, identified a completely different variety of the same genus.*

Now he has learned the names of several plants that are still dormant -- together, we cut back several of them, so he's memorized their locations. This should give him quite a surprise when the clematis, lilac, and peonies actually grow leaves and flowers!

It's not just me forcing the information on him -- I'm not a pushy flashcard-wielding mother, either in the garden or out. Sure, I talk about what I'm doing in the garden as he watches, but he voluntarily asks me for the names of plants.** This evening I was busy throwing the ball for the dog, and so I didn't notice Isaac pointing insistently at a forget-me-not growing at the edge of the lawn. Finally I heard him saying, "Mama! Mama, do you know what this flower is?"

And this morning as we returned from the park, he indicated a plant growing at the edge of our driveway. "Don't know what that tree is called," he said. When I told him it was a kind of bamboo, his face lit up. "Panda bears eat bamboo," he said. "They think it tastes yummy."

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*Although just now when I showed him pictures of different flowering maples on the Internet, he said, "Those are zinnias!" So he's not a savant after all.

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**It's certainly not limited to horticulture. He asks for the names of plants -- and the names of absolutely everything else. Lately when we go somewhere in the car, he asks me to tell him the name of the road we're driving on!