Ooo.. fun! on Herbology

Nathan Xavier

April 23, 2021 6:47 PM

Beginners: Winter Gardens by Nathan Xavier

A chill was starting to linger around the Sonora grounds as the days got shorter and winter approached. It wasn't yet frigid outside, but it was definitely the start of that time of year when Nathan was glad to spend most of his waking hours inside of a greenhouse. He left it to greet the students, though he imagined this was possibly the last time he'd do so again until the spring thaw. He returned their graded homework essays as they arrived, accompanying each greeting with a personalized remark about how they'd done. A couple were gently reminded about his office hours.

Once everyone was accounted for and seated around the two long work tables that filled the center of Greenhouse One, he began handing out round, deep dished terrariums about the size of a Quaffle, currently empty. "Winter's coming," he announced, though he suspected, having just walked to the greenhouse, most of them were well aware of that. "So we're going to be putting together some winter gardens, which is a type of closed terrarium, usually one that is decorated to look like a miniaturized scene. Who knows what a terrarium is? Show of hands." He looked about to see who was familiar with the term.

"For those who don't, terrariums are like fish tanks, but for plants. These particular ones will get closed up into a isolated mini-ecosystem. They are generally ornamental, but they do make for an interesting study on the water cycle, because they get sealed up and the water inside will get used by the plants, get released back into the air as vapor, condense along the sides or top, drip back down into the soil, and then get used by the plants all over again. Unlike most of the planting we do in this class, you can bring your winter garden home and show it to your family, or even give it to a family member for Christmas." Hopefully, he should not have to explain that any muggles family members who were being kept in the dark about magic should not receive this project as a gift. "Because it's quite humid in there, tropical or marshy plants work best."

He brought their attention to the central tables. "In front of all of you are the items you may include. At minimum, you should start with some rocks at the bottom for drainage, then include some dirt and several varieties of plants. If you live near muggles, I suggest you use caution in your selections and don't pick anything too obviously magical if there's a chance a wrong person might see it." There were also decorative items like miniature furniture, small figures of both human and animal varieties, and stones of all makes from natural pebbles to colored glass beads.

For plants, there were several different types of colorful grasses, some small ferns, a moss that glowed in the dark and another kind of moss that smoked. Walking sprouts and jumping mushrooms could provide some movement to the displays, and the shy violets would come out or hide depending on how many people were nearby (right now, with the greenhouse full of beginner students, they were trying their very best to turn invisible but that wasn't quite in their skill set). More common grasses, mosses, herbs, and flowers that most muggles were familiar with were available as well, though some of them did have other magical properties that were more subtle. Several of them were plants they'd covered earlier in the year, in case anybody wanted to bring samples home to show to their parents.

"I'm not going to grade on artistic talent or anything," he assured them, "so just put together something you'll enjoy looking at and showing off to those who don't normally get to see much of what you do here at school. I'm just going to be checking to see that you replanted everything properly for your grade. You have all period to work on this. When you're done, raise your hand and I'll seal a lid on top. You may begin."

OOC: Feel free to make up whatever kinds of plants or decorative items you might like to include so long as they are entirely harmless and fairly small.

Subthreads:

Ooo.. fun! by Iris Cobb with Isla Brockert

1 Nathan Xavier Beginners: Winter Gardens 28 1 5

Iris Cobb

April 24, 2021 6:01 PM

Ooo.. fun! by Iris Cobb

Iris liked Herbology, it was probably her favorite class. Potions was probably a close second. Herbology just felt a lot like home, and she missed home at times. She missed Ma and Pa and her cousins. If only she could miss Billy yet, that would be nice. Professor Xavier was nice though, and working with the plants was almost like working in her own flower garden back home, or helping Ma in her garden. The main difference here, was the plants that Professor Xavier had them working with moved around a lot more than the ones at home.

She entered the nice warm greenhouse from the chilly outside and marveled once more at the magical nature of this place. When the professor handed her back her homework assignment, she smiled and accepted the news that she had done well on it. She then found a seat and prepared for class. When the dishes came out, she assumed they would be potting things again. She hadn't heard the word 'terrarium' before and assumed it was some sort of magical term. She wasn't entirely sure what a 'fish tank' was either. But if it was something about making a miniature scene for plants it sounded great!

Iris decided a sketch would work better than notes in this instance, so she drew off a quick cut-away side view of the bowl. She drew and labeled 'rocks' on the bottom, then a layer labeled 'dirt', then she made some generic leafy things for the top plant layer. This all sounded like wonderful magic, making a neat little self-contained world. She could take it home as well and show Ma!

She began looking at the available plants, there were so many to choose from! Iris looked over at her neighbor, "What all are you plannin' on usin'?" She asked with an excited smile.

2 Iris Cobb Ooo.. fun! 1526 0 5

Isla Brockert

April 27, 2021 11:06 PM

Indeed by Isla Brockert

Isla couldn't believe it was already almost winter. Before she knew it, it was going to be midterm and the holidays. Even though, she enjoyed being at school with her friends and her studies, she did look forward to seeing her parents and little brothers and the rest of her family, aside from Uncle Eustace, obviously. And, of course, she was excited about presents.

However, what Isla was looking forward to most was putting on a puppet show for her younger cousins. One great thing about her favorite hobby was that she was able to bring her family into it and use their talents as well. She usually got Jasper, Amethyst, Chris and occasionally, when they spent time with Dad's cousins and their children, Liesl, to do the puppet shows with her since the Aladren couldn't do all the parts herself.

And the second year was excited to get together with that part of the family. Liesl was always fun, she was eccentric like Isla...but not like Isla. Liesl seemed to adore all things creepy and she did a great job playing the villains in the puppet shows. Even though, she was really the sweetest person. It was just that she liked things like skulls and eyeballs. Really liked eyeballs. To the point of naming her cat Eyeballs.

Isla thought this was awesome. Liesl was unapologetically herself whether people liked it or not-and in a way that, while odd, was fairly benign. The Aladren had to make that distinction, on the grounds that Topaz too was unapologetically herself, whether people liked it or not, but in her case...she should probably stop that. But wouldn't.

Anyway, this was why, in some ways, Isla felt closer to Liesl than to Amethyst. Because, while she and Liesl weren't weird in the same way, they were both weird, while the Crotalus had all the makings of a proper socialite. Who of course thought Isla and Liesl were strange.

Also, another cool thing was that her cousin, Owen was going to write the puppet show for her. This made the second year feel very honored because he was an amazing writer and she was sure his children's books were going to be big someday. He was really good at writing parts that suited Isla's puppets and the personalities they had.

And they had a wide range of them. Of course, she couldn't use all of them at once, so she liked to rotate who got to do a show and have them all take turns. It was only fair.

Isla entered the Greenhouse and sat down. Professor Xavier came in and started class...and it sounded like a fun one. Winter gardens? That sounded awesome. The Aladren really enjoyed things that she could use to creatively express herself.

But what should she do? It would be neat to make a Wonderland of sorts. But was that very winter-y? A Winter Wonderland cojured up quite different images that just a Wonderland. Maybe Isla would make something that represented her internal landscape. Or maybe she could make something creepy, like a graveyard to give to Liesl.

And maybe she should make sure not to use any plants that Miles was allergic to, just in case he ever came into contact with the garden. Except that the poor child was allergic to so many plants-among other things-that it was impossible for Isla to remember them all.

Just then, a voice broke into her thoughts. Isla turned to her cousin's roommate, Iris.. "I'm not really sure." The Aladren admitted. "What are you using?" Maybe the girl could help her brainstorm. "I'm Isla Brockert of the Western Brockerts." She added, introducing herself to the other girl. By this time in the year, Iris probably knew her name, especially since the first year was Amethyst's roommate, but just to be sure, Isla had introduced herself anyway.

11 Isla Brockert Indeed 1521 0 5

Iris Cobb

May 02, 2021 8:01 AM

What next? by Iris Cobb

Isla Brockert of the Western Brockerts, that did confirm things for Iris. She smiled, "Iris Cobb," she returned the introduction, " Of the Kentucky Cobbs. You're one of Amethyst's cousins, right?" She was almost completely certain on that front because of family discussions she and Amethyst had had. Family lineage was something that mildly interested Iris now, and she was a bit sad that she didn't know much about her own family tree farther back than Gramps and Gran. Maybe she could do some asking around when she was home again to see if she couldn't dig up anything farther back than that.

In the meantime though, she had some fun classwork to do with Isla. As for what she was thinking of using though… she wasn't quite sure. Professor Xavier had cautioned against using magical plants if there were going to be muggles about. Her family were all muggles, but when she looked over the plants available, there were far more strange plants there than were native to her mountain. There were some that weren't classified as 'magical' but they sure were strange.

"I'm not quite sure yet," she responded to the older girl. "I think I want to make it as exotic as I can though." Ma would be interested in all of the strange plants they were learning about. Step one though was rocks, so she started putting some of those into the bottom of her terrarium. "Did you have any ideas for yours?"

2 Iris Cobb What next? 1526 0 5