Introduction to Field Botany with Claudia Nagy

Cost of Admission: Members FREE; Non-Members $10 suggested donation This is an in-person event. Registration is required. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED FOR THIS EVENT Join us for a tour of the evolutionary history of plants ! From mosses and ferns to the flowering plants that dominate our landscapes, we will use Thomas Elpel’s Botany in a Day, to explore the evolutionary relationships that connect all plants. This course will emphasize phylogeny and how to recognize common families through simple, repeatable patterns. In the first 90 minutes, we’ll trace the branching story of plant evolution discussing algaes, ferns, monocots, dicots and eventually angiosperms aka "flowering plants." The final 30 minutes will take us outdoors for a guided plant walk, where we’ll practice the plant identification skills outlined in Botany in a Day. By the end, you’ll leave with: A clear picture of how plants fit into the evolutionary tree of life. Confidence identifying families by their flower and leaf patterns. A practical skill you can use anywhere—from gardens to wild trails. No prior botany background is required—just curiosity and a willingness to see plants in a new way! Copies of Botany in a Day will be available for purchase. This course will be led by Claudia Nagy, a Vermont Center of Integrative Herbalism Clinical Herbalist Candidate and Community Herbalist serving Flower Power from 2014 – 2023 --completing her 2,000 hour apprenticeship in 2020. Claudia is an environmentalist, gardener, activist and artist living in Catskill. She graduated from Barnard College with a BA in Environmental Policy & Science, and Columbia University with a Master's of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy. She is the founder of the Earth Arts, an ecology, arts, and wellness nonprofit, offering environmental education for people and planet. Claudia joined Mountain Top Arboretum in 2025 and is our Advancement and Horticulture Specialist.