Building a Bird House and Exploring Botanical Gardens

Heidi is still working hard to earn some merit badges. One task she had to complete was to build a house for an animal. Anything from winter stray cat shelters, bat homes to birdhouses. Since it's summer she went with the birdhouse. 

First, she got to paint it (which was her favorite part I think). She picked blue because that's her favorite color currently. 

A few days later Char helped her put it together. I could have done it with her but sometimes things are more fun with Dad. He'd hold the pieces in place and Heidi would hammer away.  

The Littles enjoyed watching them put the house together. Oh, the birdhouse came with suction cups and has a gap in the back. That way you can put the birdhouse on a window and be able to spy on the nest without really disturbing the birds.  

Now we just need to go to the bird refuge and she'll earn her Animal Habitats badge.  (I'm really, truly taking her next Saturday).

The other day the troop had a field trip to the USU Ogden Botanical Gardens. I didn't know we had a botanical garden in the area. Anybody that attended would be completing ALL the requirements for the Gardener badge. We were the first to arrive at the Gardens. Sadly, only 3 other girls came. We decided to tour 4 of the Gardens at the site; Cottage Garden, Arbor Garden, Rose Garden and the Vegetable Garden. 

While at the Cottage Garden I found my favorite flowers, Stella De Oro Lilies, Stella Lilies for short. I have been looking for these flowers at the nurseries and big box stores for the last year or so. But they either don't carry those lilies or they've just sold out. They bloom lovely yellow-orange flowers from May to September and grow really well in this area. Someday I'll find them. 

Here the girls are resting in the shade of the Arbor Garden (basically, it was an area with non-fruit bearing trees planted). But it was hot and only noon-ish, the girls voted on needed a rest in the shade. 

Next, we explored the Rose Garden. Out of all the different varieties and colors, Heidi loved this particular rose the most. She thought it looked exactly like the rose from Beauty and the Beast. I don't know what kind of rose it really is but I like her idea more. 

The girls were getting tired, thirsty and hungry. We found a pavilion where they could rest and eat the sack lunches they packed. After everyone ate they planted some wildflower seeds in little starter containers. They're supposed to do experiments on them. Heidi chose to water one group more than the other to see what impact watering has on seeds. After lunch / experiment time we explored the vegetable garden.  

The Botanical Garden gave the Girl Scouts permission to plant some flowers as long as it matched the theme of the garden. Heidi's flowers went in the Cottage Garden area. I can't remember for the life of me what her flower is called.