Today at DBG Seedlings, we studied the Cottonwood tree, a common tree around Arizona. We learned that aphids eat the cottonwood leaves and the "stem mother" lays eggs on the stem of the leaf. The leaf forms a "gall", which nourishes the aphids. We walked around the Botanical Garden looking at the chrysalis that the caterpillars from last week had made on the milkweeds. Soon they will turn into Monarchs. We collected some of the dried Cottonwood leaves with galls attached and looked at the aphids inside. We even had a snack made of cheese and mini bread sticks that looked like a Cottonwood tree.
Petting Prince the king snake. Bon Jovi the gecko did not want to come out from under his rock... so we didn't get to hold him. Jasmine wasn't too sure about Prince, but she eventually did pet him.
Eating the Cottonwood snack
Painting
Making a lizard out of play dough
