If the flowers, vegetables, trees, and shrubs in your garden could speak—oh, the unexpected stories they would tell!
Join author and naturalist Cindy Crosby for an engaging journey into the adventurous stories behind the garden plants we know and love. Discover how these plants made their way to our backyards—thanks to the daring efforts of plant hunters across the globe and close to home. Along the way, we’ll explore how different cultures throughout history have viewed and celebrated them. You’ll leave inspired, seeing your own garden with fresh eyes and imagining the stories it might tell in the seasons ahead.
This program meets in person at the Arboretum.
Instructor: Cindy Crosby, author and naturalist
Age: 16 and older
Course number: N35
Instructor
Cindy Crosby, author and naturalist
Cindy Crosby is the author, compiler, or contributor to more than 20 books, including The Tallgrass Prairie: An Introduction, co-author of Tallgrass Conversations: In Search of the Prairie Spirit and author of Chasing Dragonflies: A Natural and Cultural History (Northwestern University Press, 2020). She is a prairie steward at the Schulenberg Prairie and Nachusa Grasslands, and she coordinates dragonfly monitoring programs at both sites. She earned a master’s degree in natural resources at University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. She blogs each week at Tuesdays in the Tallgrass, and she teaches natural history and trains naturalists in the Chicago region.
What to Know
This program meets entirely indoors.
Please bring materials for taking notes and a water bottle. A light layer may come in handy in case the room is chilly.
Program Schedule
Saturday, December 6, 2025, 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.
Cudahy Room, Administration and Research Center (parking lot P-1), East Side
