Friends and Flowers Read online

  Life science: bulbs

  Science

  Sc

  Read-it! Readers

  ience

  Green Level

  Gunderson

  and

  and

  Lindsey is sad when her friend Julia

  moves away. She is convinced

  she will never find another friend

  F

  to play with her in the garden.

  ri

  But when Julia’s tulip bulb finally

  en

  blooms in Lindsey’s garden, a new

  ds

  friendship will also bloom.

  and Flo

  The amazing road to reading begins with

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  Read-it! Readers. These beautiful books are er

  easily aligned to a variety of readers’ skills.

  s

  Look inside for a description of each level.

  Reading Specialist: Adria F. Klein, Ph.D.

  Professor Emeritus, California State University San Bernardino, California

  A Note to Parents and Caregivers:

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  When sharing a content focused book with your child, read to find out facts and concepts, pausing often to restate and talk about the new information. The realistic story format provides an opportunity to talk about the language used, and to learn about reading to problem-solve for information. Encourage children to measure, make maps, and consider other situations that allow them to apply what they are learning.

  There is no right or wrong way to share books with children. Find time to read and share new learning with your child, and pass on the legacy of literacy.

  Adria F. Klein, Ph.D.

  Professor Emeritus

  California State University

  San Bernardino, California

  Science

  Read-it! Readers

  Editor: Shelly Lyons

  Designer: Tracy Davies

  Green Level

  Page Production: Melissa Kes

  Art Director: Nathan Gassman

  and

  Associate Managing Editor: Christianne Jones The illustrations in this book were created with acrylics.

  Picture Window Books

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  Copyright © 2008 by Picture Window Books

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. The publisher takes no responsibility for the use of any of the materials or methods described in this book, nor for the products thereof.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  All books published by Picture Window Books

  are manufactured with paper containing at least 10 percent post-consumer waste.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gunderson, Jessica.

  by Jessica Gunderson

  Friends and flowers / by Jessica Gunderson ; illustrated by Cori Doerrfeld.

  illustrated by Cori Doerrfeld

  p. cm. — (Read-it! readers: Science)

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4048-2291-7 (library binding) Special thanks to our advisers for their expertise: ISBN-13: 978-1-4048-2299-3 (e-Book)

  1. Tulips—Juvenile literature. 2. Botany projects—Juvenile literature. I. Doerrfeld, Mary Meyer, Ph.D.

  Cori, ill. II. Title.

  Professor and Extension Horticulturist

  QK495.L72G86 2008

  University of Minnesota, Department of Horticultural Science 584’.32—dc22 2007004563

  Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chaska, Minnesota Adria F. Klein, Ph.D.

  Professor Emeritus, California State University San Bernardino, California

  Lindsey’s best friend, Julia, lived next door.

  Julia’s garden was Lindsey’s favorite place in the whole world. It bloomed with every flower Lindsey could name. Lindsey loved the tulips the most. They blossomed each spring.

  One day, Julia had bad news. “I’m moving

  away,” Julia told Lindsey.

  Lindsey wondered what she would do

  without her best friend. She couldn’t imagine a day without Julia.

  On a gray October day, Julia’s family

  “I’ll remember our tea parties in the garden,”

  loaded the moving truck.

  Lindsey promised.

  “I’m going to miss you,” Lindsey said.

  “I have a gift for you,” Julia said. She held out a round bulb that looked like a small onion.

  “What is it?” Lindsey asked.

  “It’s a tulip bulb,” Julia said. “Plant it in your garden. Every year, you’ll have a flower to

  remember me by.”

  “Don’t forget our lily hats,” Julia said.

  “Or our petunia necklaces,” Lindsey

  added, laughing.

  Bulbs come in different sizes.

  Tulips, daffodils, and some other flowers are called perennials.

  Some are as small as a kidney

  Perennials bloom year after year. The flowers produce seeds bean. Others can weigh more

  and then die after the growing season. But the bulbs remain than 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms).

  alive beneath the soil. The next year, new flowers grow.

  But when Julia was gone, Lindsey did not feel

  “When?” Lindsey asked.

  like laughing anymore.

  Mom smiled and looked at the tulip bulb in

  Lindsey’s hand. “By the time your tulip blooms, you will have a new friend,” Mom said.

  “How will I ever find another friend like

  Julia?” Lindsey asked her mother.

  “You won’t find anyone exactly like Julia,”

  Mom said. “But you will make new friends.”

  A flower bulb has everything

  the plant needs to grow.

  The beginnings of the stem,

  leaves, and buds are inside

  the bulb. It also holds a

  supply of food for the plant.

  Lindsey wanted to keep the bulb beside her

  Lindsey chose a sunny corner of the garden

  bed so she could remember Julia.

  to plant the bulb. She planted it near her

  But her mother disagreed. “We have to plant

  mother’s rosebushes.

  it before winter,” Mom said.

  “Won’t the bulb freeze when it snows?”

  Lindsey asked.

  “No. The cold weather helps the flower bud

  grow,” Mom explained. “But we must watch for rabbits and squirrels. They like to dig up bulbs to eat.”

  Tulips need a lot of sun. Tulip bulbs also

  need to be planted on h
igher ground so

  water drains away from them. If the bulb

  sits too long in watery soil, it will rot.

  10

  11

  Lindsey dug a hole in the soil. She used a

  Lindsey patted the loose soil over the bulb.

  ruler to make sure it was about six inches deep.

  “Now, grow!” she said to the ground.

  She placed the bulb inside.

  Mom laughed and said, “The tulip won’t

  “Make sure the pointed end faces up,” Mom

  bloom until spring.”

  said. “The roots grow from the other end.”

  But spring was months away. Would it really

  take that long for the flower to bloom? Would it really take that long to make a new friend?

  One end of a bulb is usually thinner or more pointed than the other end. The pointed end needs to be planted facing upward. The round end contains the basal plate. The roots grow from the basal plate.

  12

  13

  One day while she was raking leaves,

  Lindsey tiptoed toward the garden. She saw

  Lindsey heard a strange noise. She stood still a little pink nose behind the rosebush. She saw and listened. It wasn’t the wind. The sound

  a fuzzy body and a snowball-shaped tail. White was coming from the garden.

  ears pointed to the sky.

  1

  1

  Lindsey’s heart pounded. She had to do

  “Go away!” Lindsey yelled. “Go eat a carrot.

  something. The rabbit would eat her tulip bulb.

  Stay away from my tulip!”

  But the rabbit just looked at her. It did not hop away. It did not even move.

  “Please don’t eat my tulip,” Lindsey begged.

  Still, the rabbit did not move.

  Rabbits, squirrels, and other rodents like to eat plants from flower and vegetable gardens. Rabbits eat carrots and lettuce.

  1

  Sometimes they also dig up bulbs from the ground.

  1

  The rabbit hopped around the garden. Its

  “My tulip is in trouble,” she cried.

  pink nose wrinkled as it smelled the ground.

  “Shoo!” cried Lindsey. She took a step

  toward it.

  Finally, the rabbit jumped away.

  But Lindsey knew it would be

  back again.

  1

  1

  That evening, Lindsey told her mother,

  “Rabbits are going to eat my tulip!”

  “We can use a mix of hot-pepper sauce and

  water to keep them away,” Mom said. “Because the mix is natural, it won’t hurt animals.”

  The next day, Lindsey and her mom sprayed

  the hot-pepper sauce mix on the soil.

  “How will this keep the rabbits away?”

  Lindsey asked.

  “Hot-pepper sauce is very spicy. Rabbits and squirrels don’t like the taste of it,” Mom said.

  Some gardeners cover their bulbs

  in hot-pepper sauce before planting

  them. The sauce is a safe way to

  keep rabbits, squirrels, and other

  rodents away from bulbs.

  20

  21

  Every day that winter, Lindsey checked

  But the tulip was already growing. After

  her tulip bulb. No rabbits bothered it. Lindsey Lindsey had planted the bulb, the tulip had

  couldn’t wait for her tulip to grow.

  started to grow. Under the ground, roots spread from the bulb. Once winter came, the bulb

  stopped growing and waited for spring.

  22

  23

  In April, the sun warmed the ground. Grass

  The next day, Lindsey walked to the garden.

  peeked through the soil. The house next door As she neared her tulip, she saw a thin, green was still empty, but tiny purple flowers dotted sprout. Her tulip was growing!

  the garden. Lindsey remembered the good times she had shared with Julia.

  “I still haven’t found a friend like Julia,”

  Lindsey told her mother.

  “Be patient,” Mom said. “Your tulip hasn’t

  sprouted yet.”

  For the next twelve days, Lindsey went outside daily to check on her plant. The sprout grew a bit taller each day.

  On the twelfth day, Lindsey saw a small bud on the tip of the stem. Her tulip was about to bloom.

  2

  2

  The next morning, Lindsey heard sounds

  A girl about her age stood in Julia’s old

  coming from next door. She saw a big

  yard. Lindsey waved. The girl waved back.

  orange truck in the driveway. A new family

  was finally moving in.

  “Is that your flower?” the girl asked. She

  pointed to Lindsey’s tulip.

  2

  2

  Lindsey turned and saw that a red tulip had

  The girl ran over to Lindsey’s new red tulip.

  opened its petals wide.

  “That tulip is really amazing,” she said. “I love flowers.”

  “I do, too,” said Lindsey.

  2

  2

  The two girls sat in the grass. Lindsey smiled.

  Activity: Growing Bulbs Indoors

  Her tulip had finally bloomed. And it seemed a Items needed:

  new friendship was blooming, too.

  • one medium-sized pot

  • a spray bottle full of water

  • potting mix

  • a sunny spot

  • a package of small stones or pebbles

  • Three or four daffodil or tulip bulbs

  Directions:

  1. Fill the bottom of the pot with the small stones or pebbles.

  2. Add about 2 to 3 inches ( to centimeters) of potting mix.

  3. Place the bulbs in the pot. Keep the pointed ends up. The bulbs should not touch.

  . Cover the bulbs with potting mix.

  . Water your potted bulbs. The potting mix should be damp, not muddy.

  . Place the pot in a sunny spot.

  . Using the spray bottle, spray the potting mix with water whenever it is dry.

  . Watch your plants grow.

  Glossary

  basal plate—the part of the bulb from which the roots grow bloom—to have flowers

  bud—a flower that hasn’t opened yet

  bulb—the onion-shaped underground plant part from which some plants grow leaves—the flat, green parts of a plant that grow from the stem petal—one of the colored outer parts of a flower roots—the part of a plant that grows down into the ground and takes in water and minerals to feed the plant

  soil—another word for dirt

  sprout—a new or young plant growth

  stem—the main part of a plant that supports the leaves and flowers bulb planted

  roots grow

  sprout appears

  bud appears

  flower blooms

  Life Cycle

  of a Bulb

  30

  day 1

  day 30

  day 10

  day 20

  day 212

  31

  ( months)

  ( ¾ months)

  ( months)

  To Learn More

  At the Library

  Bodach, Vijaya. Flowers. Mankato, Minn.: Pebble Books, 200.

  Corwin, Judith Hoffman. Bright Yellow Flower. New York: Scholastic, 2003.

  Mitchell, Melanie. Tulips. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 2003.

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  Look for all of the books in the Read-it! Readers: Science series:

  Friends and Flowers (life science: bulbs) The Grass Patch Project (life science: grass) The Sunflower Farmer (life science: sunflowers) Surprising Beans (life science: beans) 32

 

 

  Jessica Gunderson, Friends and Flowers

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