Carly's Blog

      Scientific name: Hibiscus arnottianus, Hibiscus brackenridgei, Hibiscus clayi, Hibiscus furcellatus, Hibiscus kokio, Hibiscus tiliaxeus, Hibiscus waimeae, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis.     Common name: Hibiscus, Hawaiian Punch Hibiscus, Hawaiian Hibiscus, Chinese Hibiscus      For my plant, I was in NY for the assignment, and nothing is in bloom so it would be very difficult to find and identify plants and flowers since none of them grow in the snow and cold weather. Therefore, I used a plant I have inside my house that is partially in bloom. This plant was taken from outside in our garden and transported to the pot. So although it is not currently outside, it was at one point. This plant was a Hawaiian punch hibiscus. This type of plant is a perennial flowering shrub that is native to Asia. They are fast growing and known best for their large, colorful blooms that come in a wide variety of hues. There are two different types, the cold hardy ones and the tropical ones. The tropical var

                                                                                                           In this week's assignment we were assigned to plant seeds. I chose to try and grow alyssum flowers from seeds. I bought the seeds, soil and cups and placed them in a partial sun/shade location which is what they need to grow.  I am a little nervous getting started, as I have never grown anything before. I started this process on Sunday and they still have not grown, so I am concerned I did something wrong. They may just need some time still, but I am concerned they won't grow. I am expecting them to grow, but still worried. 

  This week we were assigned to go for at least a 30-minute walk and to take pictures along the way. I decided to walk at Lake Johnson and take my pictures there. I walked for about 45 minutes total but there wasn't much to take pictures of other than nature. Most of my pictures revolve around the water except for the one with the stones. I happened to see that when I looked down and thought it was a cute addition to my photo collection. I had a great time on my walk since the weather was so nice and the scenery was beautiful. 

 This week we were assigned to bake bread. The recipe I used is explained at the end of the blog along with pictures of the bread. This was a fun task, and it went relatively smoothly for me. I enjoy baking usually so I enjoyed this task. My bread came out great and I even had enough to give to friends! The only part of this journey that I was concerned about was the length of time to bake my bread. My recipe called for tools that I did not have such as a baking stone. Therefore, I had to improvise which caused me to change the baking process slightly. I got lucky with my baking time because I wasn't really sure how long to bake it for, but I was concerned, as baking it too much will make it hard and crispy but baking it for too short of a time will cause it to still be wet and not done properly. I got lucky and baked it for 35 mins at 350 degrees and this was perfect. My bread was soft on the inside and crunch on the outside. The only thing I would do differently if I were to make

Below are 5 pictures I took this week. Most of them were taken on the warmer days when the bugs were out a little more and were easier to find. They were all taken in and around the Raleigh area.  Picture 1:                                                     Picture 2:  Picture 3:  Picture 4:  Picture 5: 

 Our group met from 3:00-3:20 on 2/1/23. The group meeting consisted of Abigail Richardson, Veda Reeves and Carly Regan.  This week, we were assigned to keep all trash that we cumulated for 7 days. Keeping the trash was not an easy task, as it got in the way, started to pile up, and was even starting to smell. When our group met, we determined that this was not an easy assignment. All of us agreed that the hardest part was not taking the trash out to the dumpster or trash chute and instead, letting it pile up for the full 7 days. The common denominator in our trash was plastic. For Abigail and me, we had most of the plastic items while Veda had very little articles of plastic. Many items in my trash were able to be recycled, yet they weren't. Many items in Abigail's trash included plastic bags, and most items in Veda's trash were environment friendly. Keeping my trash made me feel as if I was dirty, for example: usually when my trash starts to overflow, I throw it in the tr