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Tulip Garden Update: September 8, 2006

Today's Report Includes:


Getting Started: What’s It All About?
Extra, Extra, Read All About It
Read this hands-on, easy entry booklet about the Journey North tulip project. Print, fold and read it with easy to follow directions, or read from a slide show on the Web.

When Does Spring Reach Your Hometown?

Print-and-Fold Instructions for Booklet Assembly

Plant, Observe, Share, and Track
Explore plant growth and seasonal change with a flower that symbolizes spring. Observe how sunlight drives seasonal plant growth in your garden. Share data from your own garden and track spring across the Northern Hemisphere.

  • Journey North: Plants and the Seasons (video)

Why Tulips? Why Not Native Plants?

The Red Emperor tulip proclaims springtime for this scientific experiment.

Red Emperor is the plant (tulip variety) that we chose for our international science project. Why do you think we chose tulips? (Ask before reading on!)

We needed a plant that would grow across the entire Northern Hemisphere or world, to be part of our scientific experiment. The problem is that there are no species of native plants that will grow across this vast region. So, we chose the tulip - not native to most of the world but easily available - to demonstrate plant response to the changing seasons.


Time to Dig In: Choosing Your Garden Site
How do temperatures around your school yard compare?

Your tulips will announce the arrival of spring in your community. You need to decide where to plant them. What do plants need to survive? What factors might affect the growing tulips? Where can you plant them to represent your climate? Remember this is a BIG experiment and everyone has to follow the same steps for finding their garden site.

Deciding Where to Plant
To help you choose your site, go out and explore the schoolyard climate. Find North, South, East and West on a compass or GPS. How might the direction your garden faces affect plant growth? Try some activities to help you explore your school yard
and checklists to help you decide what spot best represents YOUR climate.

  • Deciding Where to Plant your Journey North Garden >>

How to Report to Journey North
 
Report Your Sightings
The Owl button
As soon as you plant YOUR garden, be sure to let us know! In next month's update, we expect to have many garden locations to report to you.

Simply press the "Owl" button, enter your registration email address and report from your garden planted. Wait 5 minutes then refresh the map page to see your site pop up on the map.

Never reported before? Try a Practice Report first. >>


Coming Next Month:
Your bulbs have arrived and you are about to bury them underground. Do all the bulbs look alike? Will each one grow the same? We’ll look closer at these specialized plants on October 6.

Teachers' Guide
The suggestions in this guide are provided to help teachers integrate Journey North's program in the classroom.


The Next Tulip Garden Update Will Be Posted on October 6, 2006.



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