Native plants of the Eastern Temperate Forest are beautiful, inspiring, and critically important for healthy landscapes. From the subdued colors and fragrances of spring wildflowers to the exuberance of summer perennials and the captivating hues of fall foliage, discover a wealth of plants that satisfy your gardening needs throughout the seasons. Using Mt. Cuba Center’s stunning gardens, learn to identify 60 trees, shrubs, and herbaceous perennials in each Native Plants course. Examine their key identifying characteristics, preferred growing conditions, overall size, and ecological significance. Students seeking a Certificate in Ecological Gardening must take the onsite exam. This program takes place online with separate in-person tours of Mt. Cuba Center’s gardens. Six prerecorded online lectures are available starting Monday, May 27th. Three garden tours take place in person on Saturdays: June 8th, 22, July 13th. *No class on July 6th Optional exam: Saturday July 20th. About the Instructors: Kathy Elliot works as an Educator at Mt. Cuba Center. She has bachelor’s degree in plant science and English from the University of Delaware and earned a Certificate of Merit in Landscape Design from Longwood Gardens. She worked for fifteen years at a family-owned, plant-focused garden center in south-central Pennsylvania, where she multi-tasked between landscape design and garden center management. Melissa Starkey, PhD, is the Marketing and Communications Manager at Mt. Cuba Center. She earned her PhD in biology from Northwestern University and an MSc in plant biodiversity and taxonomy from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and University of Edinburgh in Scotland. As part of her studies, she completed a certificate in field botany in Colombia.