How a Flower Becomes a Fruit

One of the best times to view fruit setting in our school courtyard is in late May/early June, when the berries are blooming.

Mrs. Gottlieb and Mrs. Gabrielson's third grade class went out last week with Mrs. Soukas and I to start some tomatoes and pumpkins, but on our way to the greenhouse, we stopped for a look at the berry patch. We saw blueberries, strawberries and even some blackberries in progress.

BLUEBERRIES start with a small white blossom that looks like a little tube, less than a centimeter in length.

If you look at the top of the blossom, you can see that the cap is starting to turn blue. This is the part that will swell to make the berry.

Once the petals drop off, the cap enlarges. The place where the flower was becomes the bottom of the berry.

In just a few weeks, we'll be putting them on our cereal!

STRAWBERRIES also start with a flower. It's a white flower with a yellow center.

Soon, after the petals drop off, the center will start to get bigger.

The berry goes from a yellowish green color

to white

to pink

to red.

Can't you just picture a big bowl of them with some whipped cream on top?

BLACKBERRIES have the biggest flower.

The middle becomes a greenish white

then changes to red and finally
black.

Leave some for the birds! They really like berries.

How do you like to eat them?