This is an ongoing photographic series intended to celebrate the beauty of native plant species and to encourage conservation of these species and their natural habitats.

Flowers, bugs, and critters all fascinate me, especially when they aren’t strangers. I like to make their acquaintance, to know a little about their family and where they came from. I like to be able to investigate their interactions with each other and with their environment. I like to see both their ugly parts and their beautiful parts. Native plants are my favorites. They often hide the most gorgeous little flowers you’ve ever seen in an otherwise unimposing plant.

I’m passionate about conservation of native species and native habitats. It’s a hopeless cause, I know, but trying our best will at least reduce the amount lost! In vast areas of the United States, we don’t even know what the vegetation was like before our ancestors movedin—the native plants have been long gone in most of our populatedareas. Humans