by Asia Citro
“But what about sand?” Pip asked. “And moss?”
“Hmm, Mom said peat moss would be the best to try. But I forgot to ask her where to find that.”
Pip gave a joyful jump. “I know where to find that moss in the forest. I can also get the stream water!”
“Perfect! Now we just need to figure out where to find sand …”
Sassafras went running for the barn door. He stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder and gave an annoyed meow.
“Oh! You want me to follow you.”
Sassafras led the way out to my sandbox. “Brilliant! Good kitty!” I scratched under his chin and he purred. “Wait here. I’ll be right back with the cups.”
Several minutes later, Pip, Sassafras, and I met up in the barn.
Pip panted in front of a small pile of moss and a bit of stream water. “Now what?”
“Now we write out our steps. In an experiment it’s important to change just one thing and keep everything else …”
“ … the same!” chirped Pip. “Your mom is always saying that.”
I laughed and nodded. “She is! We’re changing the stuff we are trying to grow the seeds in. So we should use the same pots, the same number of seeds in each pot, and the same amount of stuff in each pot. We should also keep them in the same place. And I’m pretty sure all seeds need water to grow, so I’ll add the same small amount of water to each of them.”
With Pip and Sassafras both helping, we got through the seed planting pretty quickly. As we stood back to admire our work, Pip let out a monstrous yawn.
“I think my work here is done. Time for a nap! I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Sassafras and I gave Pip a quick snuggle. “See you tomorrow, Pip!”
CHAPTER 6
NOTHING?!
Sassafras and I rushed through breakfast and out to the barn first thing the next morning.
“Which pots do you think will have sprouted seeds, Sassafras?” I asked as I peeked in the ones filled with rocks, dirt, and air.
Sassafras gave a few sniffs at the pots in front of him before plopping down with a worried look on his face.
“None of those sprouted either, Sass?” I peeked in to double-check, but the seeds all looked pretty much the same.
The doorbell rang, and Sassafras perked up.
“It’s probably Pip.” We jogged over to the back barn door and sure enough, there was our froggy friend.
“Did any grow?” Pip asked hopefully.
“Nope. Nothing’s changed.” I shrugged. “Sometimes we have to wait a few days before our pea and bean seeds sprout.”
Pip tapped his chin. “Hmmm. That could be, but usually magical plants grow quickly. Because of the magic and all.”
“Really? That’s not good. I must be missing something or doing something wrong! But what?” I paced back and forth. Sassafras bonked into my leg.
“Mrrph.”
I looked down, and Sassafras had my Thinking Goggles in his mouth. “Oh, great idea!” I plunked the goggles on my head.
I paced some more while I waited for the Thinking Goggles to work.
I started tapping my legs a little as I walked.
“Of course!” I exclaimed. “The pod didn’t open until I sang. Maybe the seeds need music to grow? Ummm, let’s see here.” I hummed to get myself started.
Seeds, seeds, why won’t you grow?
This whole thing is going too slow.
I started to dance a bit and bonked my arm into the bookcase.
Ouch! I just bopped my right elbow.
Pip squealed. “Zoey! The seeds are doing something—keep singing!”
Ummm, gee, I wish I had a banjo.
Why don’t you come out and say hello?
‘Cause if you did we’d all say “Whoa!”
At that, we saw some of the seeds shake a little, and the shiny black outsides began to crack. As my song promised, we all said, “Whoa!”
Well, except for Sass, who said “Meow!”
“Sing more, Zoey! It’s working!” exclaimed Pip.
I tried thinking of more words to sing, but I couldn’t. So I put my head next to Pip’s and we both sang my original song again. As we sang, the seeds moved and shook a bit more. Maybe the roots were starting to grow? Whatever was going on, it was happening very gradually.
“I can’t sing all day, Pip. There must be a better way to … OH! Of course! A radio!”
I grabbed it from the cabinet, set it up by the plants, and turned on my favorite radio station. By dinnertime each of the seeds had grown a few inches. The seeds in the rocks, dirt, and potting soil pots had grown the smallest amount, and the seeds in the sand, sand mixed with moss, and water had grown the most. I had just finished writing down the measurements in my journal when Mom called me in for dinner.
“I’m just going to leave the radio on low all night. Can you meet us again first thing tomorrow, Pip?”
He nodded, and we said our goodbyes. I grinned. The plants would be huge tomorrow! And the best part was, it looked like they could maybe grow anywhere. Maybe we could plant them by our house. That would be so neat.
I sang quietly as I shut the barn door for the night:
Oh, plants, plants, good night!
I’ll see you in the morning light.
I hope you will be quite the sight!
CHAPTER 7
OH NO!
Following our usual routine, Sassafras and I burst into the barn right after breakfast, full of excitement.
“I bet they are going to be enormous, Sass!” I skipped over to the table and skidded to a stop.
“Oh no!!!” I gasped.
The pots with rocks, potting soil, and yard dirt looked completely empty. I stepped closer. Where there had been plants, there was now nothing but … purple ashes? All the plants in those pots were dead.
My lip quivered. My stomach tightened. “We need Mom!”
Sassafras and I dashed back to the house. I wiped my tears so Dad wouldn’t worry. He couldn’t see anything magical, and I couldn’t explain what was wrong without talking about a magical seed pod. Dad would be so confused.
I took a few deep breaths to steady myself, and then went straight to Mom’s office.
She took one look at me and opened her arms. “Oh honey, what’s wrong?”
The tears started again.
“It’s about the seeds. Pip and Sassafras and I discovered that music helped them grow last night and they were all doing great …”
“Right—you showed me your data, and it was all great. Did they stop growing?”
“Worse! The plants in three of the containers are completely dead. All that’s left in the pots are purple ashes.”
Mom was confused by this, too, so she came out to the barn and took a look herself.
“How strange! These must be very delicate magical plants. You did a great job—there was no way we could have known they would turn to ashes like that. I would have done the same things you did.”
I sniffled. That did make me feel better. But still, I only had twelve plants left. If these were the last twelve of their kind, I needed to be extra super-duper careful. I didn’t want to be the one to make such a beautiful and rare magical plant go extinct.
“We can talk through the rest of your plans together and make sure we’re being careful with the seeds we have left. Let’s start with what you learned here.” Mom scooted a ruler and my science journal over to me.
I carefully measured the plants we had left and added the information to my data chart.
Then I spoke as I wrote:
“Perfect,” said Mom. “What are you planning to do next?”
“Because the plants are so much taller in the sand-and-moss mix, I think I should move the plants in water and sand into pots with sand and moss. And then the next thing I need to figure out is how much to water them.”
Mom nodded. “And you have a bit of a clue there about the water …”
I tapped my Thinking Goggle
s. “I know that the amount of water I gave them to start was maybe OK, since the plants in sand and moss are still growing.”
“Mmmm-hmmm,” said Mom. “And one more thing … ?”
“Ummm …”
Pip cleared his throat near the pot of plants in water.
“OH! Thanks, Pip! Having a lot of water is probably OK, since those plants are growing all right.”
Pip and Mom clapped, and I grinned.
Mom gave my shoulders a squeeze. “Sounds like you’re ready for your next experiment.”
CHAPTER 8
HOW MUCH
WATER?
The plants were getting crowded with four per pot, so I very, very carefully separated them out and gave each plant its own pot filled halfway with sand and moss mixed together. Pip had helped gather more peat moss from the forest before going home for the day.
I hummed along to the radio and sat down with my science journal. I started with the new question:
I thought for a minute. Oh right. Ugh. I scratched out “best.” If Mom were here, she’d say: What does best mean? Tallest? Widest? Most leaves? Be specific, Zoey!
I fixed my journal entry:
And then I got to make a guess. Aw, man! I should’ve asked Pip for his guess before he left. Oh well.
“All right, Sassafras. We’ve learned that, um …” I flipped back in my science journal. “ … the best amount of water is probably between one teaspoon and half a pot of water.”
Sassafras blinked lazily at me, and then laid his head down and started to snore.
Well then. I guess I’d need to write in my journal quietly.
I checked to make sure all my materials were on the table—water, teaspoons, twelve pots with plants. Check, check, check!
OK, on to the procedure. How much water should I try in each? I did NOT want to wake up to more purple ashes tomorrow.
I quietly labeled my pots and then drew out my plan while Sassafras snored.
I started singing again (quietly) as I added the water. It couldn’t hurt.
One for you,
And two now too.
Three will do.
And four—who knew?
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doooooo
Almost through,
Now twelve—woohoo!
Sassafras yawned and stretched. Then he looked at my closed journal and the labeled pots and gave a little jump.
“I finished it all while you slept. Our little plants should be fine now. I hope. Let’s go tell Mom and make sure my experiment sounds OK.”
I crossed my fingers and my toes as I closed the barn door.
“Pleeeeease be OK, little plants!” I whispered.
CHAPTER 9
NOT AGAIN!
I woke up the next morning full of hope, but when we got to the barn, my shoulders slumped. Three more plants had turned to ashes.
Mom rubbed my back. “It’s not your fault, honey! This is a tricky problem and a delicate plant. Which three did we lose overnight?”
“The plants in the pots that got one, two, and twelve teaspoons of water.” My stomach felt like I’d swallowed a rock.
“But look! Now we know more about your plant …” Mom gestured to the growing plants.
I took a deep breath to try to calm myself down. Panicking wouldn’t help the nine plants that were left. I grabbed my ruler with a shaky hand and measured. “OK, so it looks like the six-teaspoon plant has grown the most. That must be close to the perfect amount of water.” I poked a finger in the soil. “It’s kind of mushy and wet. That’s strange, right?”
“It is unusual.” Mom seemed to be waiting for me to figure it out.
I could do this. “OK, so we know that it likes sand mixed with moss. And that it likes to be a little soggy. Soggy … soggy … OH! Boggy! It’s that thing you were telling me about when I started, right? A bog?”
Mom smiled. “Exactly. Remember, a bog is a kind of wetland. The plants there are used to soils that are similar to a sand-and-moss mix, and they’re usually OK with a bit of standing water. I agree with your conclusion that our mystery plants seem to want to grow in a bog.”
I peeked out the barn window into the forest. “And you said there’s one around here?”
Mom pointed off in the distance. “The one I know of is a few miles that way, but there aren’t any roads to it. The only way to get there is a pretty steep and long hike.”
“I love hiking!” I flexed my arm muscles. “And I’m tough. Can I come with you to take the plants back? Please, Mom?” I was super excited to get the plants back where they belonged. And I was a little worried that the longer I kept them, the more likely I would wake up to more purple ashes.
Mom laughed. “You are tough. I have to go into work today, but maybe we can go tomorrow.”
“YESSS!” I jumped up and down.
“Why don’t you get all of these plants watered for the day, and then you and Sassafras can start packing everything we’ll need for a long day hike—hats and bug spray and snacks and all that?”
“We’re on it!”
CHAPTER 10
SURPRISE!
Sassafras and I had just finished packing two backpacks—mainly full of yummy snacks—when we heard the magic doorbell ring.
“I think it’s Pip. He was supposed to come this morning, but all those trips back and forth with the peat moss and stream water must have really tired him out.”
Sassafras and I ran for the barn.
We opened the door to find a smiley Pip.
“What did I miss?” He asked as he hopped onto my head. Oh, Pip.
I swallowed and then broke the bad news. “We lost three more plants. But we learned that the plants grow the tallest with six teaspoons of water a day. And see …” I squished the wet soil with my finger again. “We’re almost positive they’re bog plants!”
“Oooooh!” Pip cooed.
“I know, the soggy soil is pretty cool, right?”
“No. I mean yes. But oooooh, look at those!”
I couldn’t tell what Pip was so excited about, so I plucked him down from my head. He pointed up to the top of the plants.
“Oh my goodness! How did we not see those? Sassafras! Look!”
I picked up Sassafras, Pip jumped back on my head, and we crowded around what looked like sparkling flower buds.
“I can’t wait to see the flowers. They must be amazing! Can you even imagine?”
“How do we get them to bloom?” asked Pip.
“Um, well … that’s a great question. Flowers usually bloom in the spring and summer when it’s warm and sunny. So these guys probably just need some sun!”
“Ohhh!” Pip gently touched a low-hanging flower bud with one webbed hand. “Do you think they will bloom right away if we take them outside now?”
“That’s a great idea! Maybe we can surprise my mom with the flowers! She’s at work today but she’ll be home later.”
One by one, I moved the seven plants out into the sunshine.
“I’m putting them here by this tree because see?” I pointed up. “There are lots of bees! And bees pollinate flowers.”
Pip gave me a puzzled look. “Pollinate?”
“Yeah, flowers need pollen added from other flowers to grow a fruit or a seed pod.”
Pip coughed a little. “Um, pollen?”
I spotted a dandelion and plucked it. “A bee lands on a flower to get some food.” I tapped the dandelion against the palm of my hand and showed Pip the yellow dust left behind. “When she lands, some of this pollen dust will get on her little feet. When she goes to another flower for more food, she’ll leave some of the pollen on that new flower and pick up some more.”
Pip poked at the pollen in my hand.
I scanned the yard and ran over to pick a dandelion that was white and puffy with seeds. “The pollen the bees leave makes it so the flower can turn into a seed or seeds like this!” I blew and all the little dandelion seeds rained down on Pip’s head as he giggled.
“Yes! And then our plant won’t go extinct.” I cheered. We high-fived.
Pip and I lay in the grass and propped our heads on our elbows as we watched.
And waited.
And watched.
Nothing happened.
“Maybe we need some music? I can’t bring the radio all the way out, but I could turn it up.”
I ran back into the barn and turned the radio louder. I walked back outside to check. We could definitely hear it.
More watching.
More waiting.
More nothing.
Pip yawned. “Um, Zoey? This is getting a little boring. It’s such a pretty day. Could we take a break and go visit the merhorses? Pretty please?”
I didn’t want to miss the flowers blooming … but it didn’t look like it was going to happen anytime soon. I hadn’t seen the merhorses in a while. And Pip was here to translate for me (it was really hard to say much to the merhorses without Pip there since I couldn’t understand anything they said back to me).
Just then Dad came out into the yard. “What’re you doing with those empty pots, sweetie?”
I giggled. “A science experiment with plants. Hey, Dad? Can I go down to the stream for a little while? I’ll be back by dinnertime.”
Dad stared at the pots for one more moment, and then patted me on the head. “Sure!”
I stood up and gave him a quick hug. “Thanks, Dad!”
Pip hopped onto my head, Sassafras ran ahead, and we all set off for the stream.
CHAPTER 11
