Summer In The Garden

Now that it is Summer, the garden is full of pretty flowers. Some are called annuals because they just grow for one year, but most of them keep coming up every year - these are called perennials (the bears had to look up the spelling of this in the dictionary!) because they grow year after year after year after year……

The flowers in their garden are all pretty colours, some are pink, some are blue, some are white, some are yellow, some are orange, some are red, some are purple - all the colours of the rainbow. They all look lovely together.

All of them have strange names in Latin (a very old language). These are too difficult for little teddy bears to pronounce.

Luckily, they also have easier names in English, sometimes from what they were called long ago, sometimes because of what they look like, so the bears use those to describe them instead.

Some are tall and spiky, like the lupins and foxgloves. Some are bushy with lots of flowers, like the grandmothers' bonnets. Some are really striking to look at, like the irises. Some are tiny and grow very close to the ground, like the alpines - Tommy likes these best because they aren't taller than him! Some have lovely smells, like the roses.

Some are climbers and will cling on to and climb up sticks or poles, like the sweet peas or the wisteria or the clematis.

They grow in all sorts of different places too. Some don't like to be too wet, and for those the bears plant them and then cover the ground with gravel so that the water drains away. Some like to live in full sunshine and some like to live in the shade.

Some even like it to be partially shady and partially sunny! They all have their likes and dislikes and the bears try to grow them where they will like it best.

They also grow some plants in pots and other containers. This way, the bears can move them around the garden so that they can enjoy them whether they are sitting on the patio, or near to the house, or to add colour to a dark corner.

They can only move the little pots though, because even though there are lots of bears, some of the pots are very heavy!

There are also wild flowers which grow in the lawn, like dandelions and daisies. Some people dig them up or call them weeds, but the bears like those too, and let them grow because they look so pretty in the grass.

The bears like being out in the garden, whether they are looking after their flowers or playing games on the lawn, or just sitting outside in the sunshine, or sitting in the shade sipping icy lemonade when it's too hot to sit in the sun. Sometimes they will cut flowers to bring inside the house and arrange them in vases of water so that they can enjoy them inside as well!

Why don't you try growing some flowers in your garden and then you can enjoy them too! The photos here show some of the bears' favourites.