Botany Beginners
Botany Beginners is a series of introductory courses in plant identification. The courses are designed for anyone who wants to learn how to identify native plants of the tallgrass prairie, plus the undesirable plants that sometimes grow with them. These courses are for beginners who want to become independent in their plant ID skills.
Amazingly, it is now possible to look up the names of many common plants on a smartphone. This can be a good tool. However, easily acquired names are also easily forgotten. Names learned through close observation of key plant characteristics are more likely to stick. This is when botany skills become truly useful.
So how does online botany training work? For best results, take these courses as they were designed:
- Watch the webinars in sequence, either in real-time, or within two weeks of the time they were originally offered (summer!).
- Practice at least twice a week, using the plant key that we have recommended with the plants that are blooming at the moment. Try your hand at the suggested homework activities.
- Keep a running list of plant species you can confidently identify, plus photos or drawings, and habitat notes.
- If you are on Facebook, bring questions (with good photos) to the Botany Beginners Facebook Group for coaching from fellow students and occasionally TPC staff.
Which course is for you?
Exploring Iowa's Native Plants
General Interest
Botany Beginners 2020
Covers native forbs (broadleaves or wildflowers, not grasses) found in prairies and woodlands. Many of these are also common to yards, roadsides, and conservation plantings. We use Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide, a simple key for beginners. A few advanced but accessible techniques are also covered.
Grasses for the Masses
General Interest
Botany Beginners 2021
Learn to use Grasses, Sedges and Rushes: an identification guide by Lauren Brown and Ted Elliman. We cover early flowering (cool-season) and late-flowering (warm-season) grasses found in remnant prairies, CRP and roadside plantings, and a variety of weedy grasses found nearly everywhere, as long as they are in full sun.
Managing Prairie Strips
Professional Interest
Botany Beginners 2022
Tailored to the needs of certified crop consultants, conservation professionals, farm managers, farmers, landowners, and others who manage prairie strips and other Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) practices utilizing native plants.
Funding
These courses are free. Financial support is provided by:
Iowa State University STRIPS Project
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
Practical Farmers of Iowa
And, a special thanks to the financial support of the Friends of the Tallgrass Prairie Center. If you would like to support Botany Beginners courses, click here to access this secure online giving form through the UNI Foundation, and select "Friends of the Tallgrass Prairie Center".
You may also mail a check payable to the UNI Foundation, Attn: Friends of the Tallgrass Prairie Center, and addressed to UNI Foundation, 121 Commons, Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0239.