Phoebe’s Secret Seeds

Phoebe and Mabel find two paper envelopes in their classroom seed box. One is labelled beans, but the writing on the other has rubbed away. Mr Reed says they can investigate the mystery seeds by growing a few.

They compare the seeds on a plain white tray. The beans are large and pale, while the mystery seeds are smaller with striped shells. Phoebe thinks they might grow into flowers, but she does not yet know which kind.

Mr Reed helps them plant the two kinds in separate pots beside the sunny window. Mabel draws a bean on one label and a striped seed on the other. The labels help them keep track before any leaves appear.

For several days, the girls check the soil and give each pot a little water when it needs it. Nothing shows at first. Phoebe wants to dig up a seed, but Mabel suggests waiting rather than disturbing its growing roots.

At last, green shoots rise from both pots. The bean leaves and the mystery leaves look different. The girls draw what they can see, keeping their labels beside the correct plants instead of guessing from memory.

As the seedlings grow stronger, Mr Reed helps them move the mystery plants to the school garden. They choose a sunny bed and keep watering during dry weather. Weeks pass before the first tight flower buds begin to appear.

One morning, a bud opens into a bright yellow sunflower with a dark centre. Phoebe recognises it from the tall flowers beside the school gate. Mabel compares their original striped-seed drawing with a picture on a sunflower packet.

The girls add a sunflower picture to their mystery label and share their drawings with the class. “We found the answer a little at a time,” Phoebe says. Their careful labels show the whole journey, from an unknown seed to a flower.