Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson CLXV · Topic 24: Summer and fall garden flowers
165. The sweet pea
Goal: Your child sprouts sweet peas, watches how the plant climbs with tendrils, and explains the banner, wings and keel of the flower.
You'll need
- Nature notebook, pencil and colored pencils
- A hand lens (magnifying glass)
- A packet of sweet pea seeds
- Cotton balls or paper towel and a dish
- A garden spot or pot with string or a trellis
What's in the book
A Teacher's Story about sweet peas and the lesson: Leading thought, Method, five questions on germination and six on the flower and fruit.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Comstock calls this a garden lesson that runs over several weeks: soak and sprout the seeds first, then watch the climbing, the flowers and the pods. Sweet peas are planted early in spring and bloom in early summer.
Safety: sweet pea seeds and pods are poisonous, unlike the garden peas we eat. Keep them away from little children and wash hands when you come in.
The leading thought
The sweet pea has its leaflets changed to tendrils, which hold it to the trellis. Its flower is like that of the clover, the upper petal forming the banner, the two side petals the wings, and the two united lower petals the keel which protects the stamens and pistil.
Day 1: inside the seed
Soak some sweet peas over night; split them the next morning. Can you see the little plant within?
Plant some of the soaked peas in cotton batting, which may be kept moist.
Sprouting
At what point does the sprout break through the seed covering? Do the root and leaf-shoot emerge at the same place, or at different points? Which is the first to appear?
Plant the rest of the soaked peas in the garden or a pot with something to climb.
Tendrils
Why must the sweet pea have tendrils?
Do you think that the leaflets toward the tip of the stem often change to tendrils? Why do you think so?
The flower
Why is the large upper petal called the banner?
Why do you think the side petals are called wings?
Press down with your finger on the tip of the keel. What happens? Is your finger splashed with pollen?
Nature notebook
Draw a sprouting seed, a tendril wrapped on its string, and a flower from the side labeled banner, wings and keel.
Afterwards
Over the summer, follow Comstock's last question: how the young pod looks when the petals fall, how it looks when ripe, and how it opens.
Tip
Compare the flower with a clover blossom under the lens (Lessons CLXVI and CLXVIII); they are built the same way.