2021
No in person events scheduled. My blog continues!
PAST EVENTS
2020 Virtual Plant Walks through Larimer County Natural Resources. See Videos
December 10, 2019. A World of Spices. Loveland Public Library.
November 8. Gardening Locally: Fostering Loveland’s Native Plants.
October 8. A Wandering Botanist in Argentina. Loveland Public Library
September 10. Across Switzerland, Loveland Public Library.
May 11. Wild and Wonderful Native Wildflowers. Plant Walk at Devil’s Backbone Open Space, Loveland CO.
March 12. A Wandering Botanist in Sweden – Vikings to modern furniture, Loveland Public Library.
February 12. Ecotourism in Costa Rica – Ecotourism is a challenge to maintain.
January 2019. Lecturer on Cal Discoveries tour to Costa Rica. link
January 8, 2019 A Wandering Botanist in the Canadian Rockies – Mountains worth exploring!
December 11. A Wandering Botanist in the Swiss Alps. Loveland Public
November 13, Loveland Public Library. A Wandering Botanist on Oahu Hawaii
October 9. Loveland Public Library. A Wandering Botanist in the Tallgrass Prairie
September 11. Loveland Public Library. A Wandering Botanist in Tuscany.
July 7, Summer Wildflower Walk. Devil’s Backbone Natural Area, Loveland. Come see the flowers and hear about their natural history, uses and folklore.
June 8. Spring Wildflower Walk. Devil’s Backbone Natural Area, Loveland. Come notice the plants and hear about their natural history, uses and folklore.
May 8, Tuesday Costa Rica Loveland Public Library. Small, tropical and diverse, Costa Rica is a country of wonders.
April 10, Colorado Grasslands Loveland Public Library. Free. The grasslands just east of the Front Range are the oldest of the central North American grasslands, complex and diverse.
March 13 Frisia and the Coast of Holland Loveland Public Library. This is the land of tulips that was reclaimed from the sea. A spectacular place to visit.
February 13, A Wandering Botanist in the Amazon Rainforest Loveland Public Library. The Amazon rainforest is hot and humid with really amazing plants and animals.
January 9, 2018. A Wandering Botanist in: The Atacama Desert, Chile. Loveland Public Library. The Atacama is one of the driest places on earth, and rich in fascinating plants and curious history.
December 12 2017. A Wandering Botanist in Hawaii. Loveland Public Library. Hawaii is a gorgeous series of Pacific Islands, the 50th state and yet with a distinctively different history. A place you should visit or return to.
November 14 A Wandering Botanist in Japan. Loveland Public Library. Japan is a strikingly beautiful island chain just off the coast of Asia. Complex and diverse, westernized and Asian, it is a wonderful place to visit.
October 10. A Wandering Botanist in Iceland. Loveland Public Library. Iceland is a spectacularly lovely island, with volcanoes, glaciers, geysers and fine waterfalls. In the northwest corner of Europe, it has a distinctive history and culture.
September 16 Wild and Wonderful Plants of the Devil’s Backbone. Devil’s Backbone Open Space. Not all of our plants flower in spring. Some wait until very late in the summer to start blooming. Others start early and flower on and on. Come see! I’ll name the plants and tell stories from their history and folklore. Easy short hike.
September 12, A Wandering Botanist in southern China Loveland Public Library. Southern China has dramatic mountains and subtropical plants, it is a wonderful tourist destination;
July 19 How to Stop Worrying and Enjoy Plant Families and Names Yampa River Botanic Park, Steamboat Springs, Colorado. An exploration/demo/ lecture on plant names and families, what they mean, why they change and how to use them without stress.
June 26-28 Botanical Society of America Annual Meeting, Fort Worth, Texas. Conference of botanists.
June 22-24 Garden Bloggers’ Fling, Washington D.C. Conference of bloggers.
June 17, Saturday 9-11 am. Wild and Wonderful Plants of the Foothills. Pinewood Reservoir. I’ll point out and tell stories about the plants we see. Hike will begin at Pinewood’s Blue Mountain Trailhead parking lot.
May 13, Wild and Wonderful Plants of the Devil’s Backbone. Devil’s Backbone Open Space. Come see what’s growing! I’ll name the plants and tell stories from their history and folklore.
May 13, Japanese Garden Elements for Colorado Gardens. Noon. Berthoud Historical Society’s Spring Festival and Plant Sale. I just took a garden tour of Japan and saw lots of ideas we can use in northern Colorado gardens.
May 9, A Wandering Botanist in northern Colorado. Loveland Public Library. Northern Colorado is tourist destination. This talk looks around us as if we were visitors.
May 9, A Wandering Botanist in northern Colorado. Loveland Public Library. Northern Colorado is tourist destination. This talk looks around us as if we were visitors.
April 11. A Wandering Botanist in Taiwan. Loveland Public Library. Taiwan, formerly Formosa which means “beautiful island,” is indeed a terrifically scenic island off the coast of Asia. Influenced by Japanese and then Chinese occupations in the last 200 years, stretching between the subtropics and tropics, with high mountains and glorious coastlines, Taiwan is an underappreciated destination.
March 14, A Wandering Botanist in Orkney, Shetland and the Faroes–the North Atlantic. Loveland Public Library. Shetland and Orkney are in northern Scotland, stunningly beautiful places with absolutely fascinating archaeology. Like Shetland and Orkney, the Faroe Islands were settled originally by people from Norway. The Faroes are remote and enticing.
February 14. A Wandering Botanist in Singapore. Loveland Public Library Singapore is an island city state in equatorial Asia. One of the wealthiest places in the world, it is a meeting point of diverse Asian cultures, a fascinating place to visit.
January 10. A Wandering Botanist in Baja California, Mexico. Loveland Public Library Take a look at this fabulous American desert. A strange place just south of the U.S.
December 14, 2016 A Wandering Botanist in Norway. Loveland Public Library. Fjords, vikings and North Sea oil, Norway is fascinating.
December 4, Loveland Lights Celebration. Holiday Plants. Loveland Public Library. The fascinating stories of the plants we use in holiday decorations.
November 12. Local Author Showcase. 1:30-4:30 Meet me, see my books, at Loveland Public Library.
November 9. A Wandering Botanist in Kauai Hawaii. Loveland Public Library. A look at the beautiful island of Kauai, including the plants.
October 12, A Wandering Botanist in Japan. Loveland Public Library. Visiting Japan, with emphasis on plants.
September 25 Fall Plant Walk. Devil’s Backbone Open Space. Walk the Devil’s Backbone, meet the plants.
August 28, Sunday, 8-10 am. Plant Walk .Devil’s Backbone Open Space. Join me on a nature walk! I’ll both identify and tell stories about the plants we see. Did you know small soapweed (Yucca glauca) is called that because the roots have grease-cutting saponins?
August 10, Curious Stories of Familiar Plants: Aspen, Columbine and More. Yampa River Botanic Park, Steamboat Springs, CO. Free. Our very familiar native plants have great stories. Aspen is the most widespread tree in North America for example (out of about 1,000 North American trees!) Free.
July 25. Curious Stories of Front Range Plants. Wildlands Restoration Volunteers. Over lunch under a tree along the Big Thompson River, I told stories of the plants around us while the volunteers took a break.
June 17, A Wandering Botanist on the Big Island of Hawaii. The Wexford, Loveland Colorado Hawaii, a romantic destination, is both the 50th State and a very isolated series of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The Big Island, Hawai’i, is the newest island, with the world’s most continuously-erupting volcano. First settled by people from Polynesia, Hawaii’s current population is wonderfully diverse. It is a unique and fascinating place. Kathy spent a year there in the 1980s and returned twice recently. The talk will cover history and geography with special reference to plants.
June 9 Curious Stories of Familiar Plants: Nasty Plants. Loveland Museum Gallery 5:30 pm. Free. Plants cannot chase you like a bear but some are dangerous nevertheless. This talk describes some of the nasty plants your are likely to encounter in Larimer County.
June 4 Curious Stories of Familiar Garden Plants: Milkweeds, Iris and More. Northern Colorado Garden Club regional meeting. First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Longmont. Garden Club members and guests. Conservationists are saying “plant milkweeds to help monarch butterflies,” the talk focuses on milkweeds for Colorado gardens, iris diversity and folklore, and vignettes of other familiar garden plants.
May 21. Walk, Devil’s Backbone Open Space. Join me on a nature walk! I’ll both identify and tell stories about the plants we see. I’ll name the plants and tell stories about them. Did you know Native Americans and settlers could start a fire with just the sharp pointed leaves and a stump of small soapweed (Yucca glauca)? The walk is free but you must register with Larimer County Parks (required): link.
May 11, 2016. A Wandering Botanist in Australia. Loveland Public Library. The smallest inhabited continent, Australia is a sparsely-populated land of brilliant colors, speaking English but in many ways different from the United States. For example, the plants and animals are a distinctive group from the Southern Hemisphere while North America’s plants and animals are largely Northern Hemisphere species: Australia has wallabys not deer in suburbia, and gums (eucalyptus) and wattles (acacias) not oaks and maples in the forests. The talk features the diversity and history of Australia, and takes special note of unusual plants.
May 7 Plant Walk. Horsetooth Mountain Open Space. Free but you must register with Larimer County Parks (required! Link). Come on a lovely spring walk. I’ll identify the plants we see and tell something about them.
May 5, Plants and History. Loveland Museum Gallery. Plants have caused wars, driven human migration and eliminated tyrants. They have built and lost fortunes for important people. Conversely, humans have spread plants around the world, intentionally and of course unintentionally. Come enjoy some of the tales of plants in history.
April 6, 2016. A Wandering Botanist in Argentina and Chile. Noon. Erion Room, Loveland Public Library. Free. Argentina and Chile fill the southern half of South America. They share their Spanish colonial history but are not friendly neighbors today. Both are large and diverse with many similarities to the United States in terms of geology, climate, Native Americans and colonial history. This talk features an overview of history with a brief look at some different areas within the two countries, especially Patagonia in the far south and the distinctive plants of temperate South America.
March 22. Curious Stories of Familiar Plants: Nasty Plants. Farr Regional Library, Greeley. Noon. Free. Plants can’t run or walk, but that doesn’t make them safe to be around. Some can poison you, some will stab you, some lure insects (and small mammals) to their deaths. This talk will enjoy tales of dangerous plants, especially those found in and around Greeley.
March 9, 2016. A Wandering Botanist in Finland. Noon. Gertrude Scott Room, Loveland Public Library. Free. Located east of Sweden, Finland is frequently considered part of Scandinavia, but the native people had quite a different origin and their language is unique. Occupied for centuries by Sweden and briefly by Russia, Finland has only been an independent nation since 1917. It is a stunningly beautiful land of forests and lakes with a relatively small population. This talk considers Finnish history and culture, the climate and the native organisms, with special reference to the plants.
February 10. A Wandering Botanist in New Zealand. Noon. Gertrude Scott Room, Loveland Public Library. Free. Deep in the southern Pacific, colonized first by Maoris from Polynesia and then by the British, New Zealand has developed on a path unlike anywhere else. The plants and animals are likewise a unique mix. The islands can be described as simultaneously very British and very exotic. The talk will consider history, climate and biology, and, especially plants.
February 11. A Wandering Botanist in China. 5:30 pm. Loveland Museum/Gallery. Free. February 8 brings the Chinese New Year: it will be the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese lunar calendar. Kathy has traveled in China four times in the last decade. This talk celebrates the diversity that is China, the plants that commonly appear in Chinese art, the plants from China that are common garden plants here, and the puns on plants that are integral to the plants portrayed in traditional Chinese art.
January 13, 2016: A Wandering Botanist in Hawaii (The Big Island). Noon. Gertrude Scott Room, Loveland Public Library. Free. Hawaii, a romantic destination, is both the 50th State and a very isolated series of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The Big Island, Hawai’i, is the youngest of the group, with the world’s most continuously-erupting volcano. First settled by people from Polynesia, Hawaii’s current population is a mix of people with diverse ancestry. All of this has created a unique and fascinating place. Kathy spent a year there in the 1980s and returned twice recently. The talk will cover history and geography with special reference to plants.
December 16, 2015: A Wandering Botanist in Southern Spain. Noon. Gertrude Scott Room. Loveland Public Library. Free. Spain,on a peninsula in the southwestern corner of Europe, has both a different climate and different history (political and biological) from the rest of Europe. Those differences are greatest along the southern coast, where the temperatures are mildest and the Moorish influence lasted longest. This talk addresses the history and biology of southern Spain, with special reference to the plants.
December 8: Curious Stories of Familiar Plants: Holiday Plants! Farr Regional Library, 1939 61st Ave., Greeley. Noon. Free. This is the season of poinsettias, Christmas cacti and holly. This lecture tells the intriguing stories of these plants and others.
November 18: A Wandering Botanist in Panama and Costa Rica. Noon. Gertrude Scott Room. Free.Panama and Costa Rica lie at the southern end of Central America. There, animals and plants of North and South America meet. Today cut by the Panama Canal, the Atlantic and Pacific coasts are quite different. Both countries have a mountain range down the center, adding greatly to biodiversity. Their histories are quite different, chiefly because the Panama Canal changed Panama immensely, bringing immigration and international power politics. This talk considers the complexity and diversity of the Central American tropics and the lessons learned from history, with emphasis on plants.
October 21: A Wandering Botanist in Iceland. Noon. Gertrude Scott Room. Free. Iceland is a small independent island country just south of the Arctic Circle. It is scenic with volcanoes, waterfalls and green meadows. People from Norway settled there in the 9th century. They had a difficult time surviving, but they did. Icelanders speak a distinct language, have a fascinating history governing themselves, isolated for months, sometimes years, from the rest of the world. This lecture talks about what you see in modern Iceland and the traditions that underlie current customs with special reference to the role of plants the Iceland’s history.
September 24: Curious Stories of Familiar Plants. Farr Regional Library, 1939 61st Ave., Greeley. Noon. Free. The plants we see every day all have interesting stories, from odd folklore (mullein will tell you if your lover is true) to names reflecting the experience of settlers (sagebrush is not related to garden sage, but it smells like it) to holding world records (aspen, one clone is the world’s largest plant). This lecture tells some of my favorites of those stories.
September 16: A Wandering Botanist in China. Noon. Loveland Public Library. Gertrude Scott Room. Free. China is about the size of the North America, with more different species of plants. It is very diverse, from deserts in the the northwest to the subtropics in the south. This lecture will consider the long history of Chinese agriculture, familiar plants that came from China and the plant hunters who found them, American plants that are common in China today and some of the puns that make the Chinese particularly like certain plants.
September 19 Plant Walk, Devil’s Backbone Open Space. Join me on a nature walk! I’ll both identify and tell stories about the plants we see. Free. Register with Larimer County Parks (required).
July 22: Denver Art Museum, Denver. “Focus on Lotus and other Plants in Asian Art” Part of summer exhibit In Bloom. Noon. Free to Asian Art Association Members, charge for others.
July 15: Curious Stories of Familiar Plants continued:, Poppies, Grapes and More
June 17: Curious Stories of Familiar Plants continued: Bachelor Buttons, Beans and More
Plant Walk, Devil’s Backbone Open Space. Join me on a nature walk! I’ll both identify and tell stories about the plants we see. 5:30 pm, Thursday May 28. Free. Register with Larimer County Parks (required).
May 20: Flowers from Near and Far: Daylilies, Flax and More
April 15: Curious Stories of Familiar Plants:Early Spring: Warmer days: Cherry Blossoms, Iris and More. Loveland Public Library.
March 18: Curious Stories of Familiar Plants:Early Spring: Pasqueflowers, Primroses and More. Loveland Public Library.
February 19: . Loveland Museum/Gallery “Plants in Chinese Art”
February 18: Curious Stories of Familiar Plants:A Hint of Spring: Willows, Snowdrops and More. Loveland Public Library.
January 22: Loveland Museum/Gallery “Celebrating Plants”
January 21, 2015 Curious Stories of Familiar Plants: Indoor Season: Chocolate, Vanilla and More. Loveland Public Library.
2014
December 29, 2014 Curious Stories of Familiar Plants: Mustards, Junipers and more. Loveland Public Library.
November 24: Curious Stories of Familiar Plants: Christmas Cacti, Poinsettias and More. Loveland Public Library
November 12 Plants in Chinese Art. Denver Art Museum. Noon.
October 27: Curious Stories of Familiar Plants: Parsley, Sage and More Loveland Public Library 1 pm
October 15: Plants of Coastal Iberia. Aboard the Tere Moana in the Mediterranean Sea; Cal. Alumni Tour: Trade Routes of Coastal Iberia (coordinated by Gohagan Travel)
September 29: Curious Stories of Familiar Plants: Aspen, chrysanthemums and more – Loveland Public Library
August 26 The Curious Stories of Familiar Plants – Windsor Public Library, Windsor, CO, 7:30 pm, 1 hour Tuesday August 26
August 11 The Curious Stories of Familiar Plants of Estes Valley – Estes Valley Library, Estes Park, CO 7 pm, 1 hour Monday August 11 Free
June 11 Weeds for Food: Intro Always wanted to try gathering wild plants for food? This class is for you! A very basic introduction to finding and preparing wild plants to eat. The focus is on edible weeds and will include plant identification, recommended books, how to prepare the plants, collecting rules, safety issues, and more. We will begin in the classroom and then walk out to find and identify edible weeds growing within a few blocks of the Chilson Center. $20. Sign up with Chilson Center (Class # 353030). Wednesday June 11, 9:30-11 am and (repeat of class) Thursday June 12, 7-8:30 pm.
May 16, 2014 The Curious Stories of Familiar Plants – Loveland Public Library, Loveland CO, 12 noon, 1 hour Friday May 16 Free