Transforming an Existing Growing Space into an Ethnobotany Garden

Biography

Mary Menz is a self-described native plant nerd. She finds the most pleasure sitting in the alpine while observing pollinators, pika, and rosy finches and searching for the tiny cushion plants she loves. When she’s not leading a wildflower hike, she can be found at the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose where she is volunteer caretaker of its Ute Ethnobotany Garden. Mary is a founding member of the Museum’s task force that completely restored the Garden — a process that started in 2017.

A career writer and editor since 1985, Mary is also a Colorado Native Plant Master� and naturalist. She and photographer friend Jim Pisarowicz co-authored Common Wildflowers of the San Juan Mountains in 2019. They are in the process of issuing the second printing in 2022. She teaches the Tri-County CSU Extension Native Plant Master classes on the Grand Mesa each July and wishes summer could be a couple of weeks longer!

Presentation

What is ethnobotany? It’s the study of how plants are — and have been — used for nutritional, medicinal, cultural, and ceremonial purposes for millennia. The Ute Ethnobotany Garden in Montrose is a dedicated space that demonstrates the plants used by the Ute Tribes when they visited this area during their seasonal travels through elevations of the Plains, the Foothills, and the Montane vegetation zones. The Garden sits on property (at 5800') homesteaded by Chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta.

Discover the plants in this Garden as well the process of its restoration, a volunteer project that germinated in 2017 and has since grown into a full-blown educational site. Determine how you may want to incorporate ethnobotany principles into your home garden or a beloved community space.

After registering, you will receive the Zoom link for this event in the confirmation email. The event will be recorded for future viewing.

Feel free to invite friends and/or family to register for this event. Please note that each attendee must register separately.

Cost: Members $10. For Non-members, we kindly ask for a $25 donation to help offset costs for this and future chapter programs.

Scholarships are available for those experiencing financial hardship. Please inquire via email.