"D" Nature
This black-and-white spotted dog is associated with firehouses.
Answer: What is Dalmatian? Dalmatians once served as sentinels during war before becoming a firehouse mascot.
Many children’s stories and fairy tales begin with these four words.
Answer: What is “once upon a time”? This beginning ensures the stories remain timeless.
This is what they call formal teatime in England.
Answer: What is high tea? High tea includes snacks, is held in the afternoon, and is served at a table. Afternoon teatime, which is less formal, is usually served in chairs or on sofas.
This is Florida’s nickname.
Answer: What is the Sunshine State? Parts of the state are sunny 75 percent of the year.
After the snowdrops pop up and before the buttercups bloom, these yellow, white, and purple flowers begin to appear.
Answer: What are crocuses? Fun fact: Saffron comes from crocus stamens. There are also fall-blooming crocuses.
When people go to Hawaii, they sometimes swim with these sea creatures.
Answer: What are dolphins? Dolphins are mammals, not fish. Did you know the killer whale is part of the dolphin family?
Fairy tales often end with this line.
Answer: What is “and they lived happily ever after”? Parents don’t want to send children off to sleep with a bad ending.
Tea figures into fortune-telling by this method.
Answer: What is reading the tea leaves? After drinking a cup of tea, a person asks a question while turning the few drops of remaining liquid into a saucer. Tea readers discern the message from the arrangement of the leaves left in the cup.
This is the proper name for sea cows, which populate the water in and around Florida.
Answer: What are manatees? They are mammals that spend their entire life in the water.
You will notice chirping and see these new structures in tree branches.
Answer: What are birds’ nests? Different birds build different types of nests. For example, blackbirds and robins build classic, bowl-shaped nests, while a mourning dove will quickly throw together a flimsy platform of twigs.
This flower goes by several names, is prevalent in the spring, and is the subject of a William Wordsworth poem that starts, “I wandered lonely as a cloud...”
Answer: What is daffodil? You might hear them called jonquils, buttercups, or narcissus, which is their botanical name.
If someone wants something that seems unattainable, we might say, “In your wildest [missing word].”
Answer: What is dreams? When people dream, they sometimes work out a path to the unattainable or how to attack a challenge.
This tea is often consumed at night before bedtime because it relaxes and relieves stress.
Answer: What is chamomile? It doesn’t contain caffeine, so the relaxation it provides can promote sleep.
When you think of citrus production in Florida, you probably think of this fruit.
Answer: What is orange? Oranges account for around 90 percent of Florida citrus production.
Ponds begin to fill with tadpoles, which are these immature amphibians.
Answer: What are frogs? They are born in the water and move to land when they mature.
This large flying insect has not two but four wings and a body that can measure more than five inches.
Answer: What is dragonfly? It can fly up to 35 miles per hour.
Love and marriage go together like this.
Answer: What is a horse and carriage? This is from the Frank Sinatra song “Love and Marriage.”
This kind of tea is considered a superfood.
Answer: What is green? The compounds in green tea are said to have healing properties
It is the capital of Florida.
Answer: What is Tallahassee? Before the capital moved to Tallahassee, the legislature divided its time between St. Augustine and Pensacola.
These butterflies begin their migration north.
Answer: What are monarchs? They overwinter in Mexico. In the spring, they begin their journey to the United States and Canada.
The state tree of Missouri is a spring-blooming tree with pink, red, or white blooms.
Answer: What is dogwood? You can easily recognize an out-of-season dogwood by its split bark, which resembles alligator hide.
Someone who becomes angry or excited out of nowhere might be said to have gone off this end.
Answer: What is deep? When people make outrageous statements, one might say, “They have gone off the deep end.”
Tea originated in this country.
Answer: What is China? It was allegedly discovered when leaves fell into a pot of boiling water.
Name one of the two states with larger populations than Florida.
Answer: What is California or Texas? In 2014, Florida surpassed the population of New York
This happens to the days during spring.
Answer: What is grow longer? In the spring, the sun slowly begins to rise earlier and set later as we move into summer.