Hello from the Evergreen State

Hi First Graders,
The first thing that I noticed is that Washington State is very different from Washington, DC. Washington, DC is a city, and this is a big state. It is so much greener here.  There are so many plants. That's what I want to show you today.

It is so green because it rains A LOT. It is even called the Evergreen State. Evergreen trees are those that don't lose their leaves in the winter. Evergreens are everywhere. This big one is in the nearby park.

 

South Carolina has some evergreen trees, too - like the tall pine trees on your playground. 

 

Some other plants that I see a lot here are ferns. In SC, people grow them indoors in flower pots. Here they grow wild outdoors. They like cool weather and here summer never gets very hot.

 

I am standing in a fern plant.



 

These are the tallest kind of trees in the world. Do you know their name?

 

They are called redwood trees. California is famous for having lots of redwood trees, but they grow all up and down the coast of the Pacific Ocean - in Washington, and Oregon, too.

 

Here I am sitting in a berry bush. What kind is it? Blueberry? No. Strawberry? No. Cranberry? No.

 

It is a kind that you might not have heard of before. It is called loganberry. They look a little bit like blackberries. Right now, the flowers are blooming on the bush. In each place that you see a flower, a loganberry will grow later in the summer.

 

Here is are two plants with funny names. The first one is called an Elephant Ear, because the leaves get that big! The second one is a flower called foxglove. Do you think that a fox could fit its paw into one and wear it like a mitten?

 

 

 

Here is one last picture for today. Do you know what I am sitting on? It is a totem pole. There are many Native American Indian tribes in the USA. Those that live in the Northwest part of the country (Washington State and Alaska) carve wooden poles with animals on them. The animals are symbols of good traits. This pole has a beaver to symbolize hard work, and an eagle for strength and courage.

 

That's all for now. Next time I will show you some animals that I have seen, and some other things, too.







Your friend,
Flat Stanley