Botany Bistro

There’s always a table reserved for you at the Botany Bistro! Here you can munch on bite-sized botany as you savor the science of plants. In 2024, Season 1 of this free, virtual botanical banquet explored various facets of the wider field of botany. In 2025, Season 2 focused on different plant families, exploring their unique characteristics and ways they have adapted through time.

Botany Bistro is currently on hiatus. Want to know when it’s back? Sign up here!

Learners of all levels are welcome to join in and further their knowledge of plants. No matter what your background or interests are, understanding the complex processes of how plants thrive will help you maintain a healthy garden ecosystem in your landscape and empower you to protect and nurture natural spaces.

Meet Your Instructor

CGC Director of Education Mary Dudley is a passionate educator who strives to bring environmental education to students of all ages who seek to integrate nature into their daily lives and classroom curriculum. Prior to rejoining the CGC team, she worked as the agriculture education teacher at James N. Gamble Montessori High School. Mary holds two graduate degrees: one in botany and another in workforce development education.

Mary created Botany Bistro because, as she explains: “The study of botany is very important to me personally. It has given me the ability to diagnose and treat plant problems, identify plants in nature and my backyard and appreciate the wonder of plants around me. I want to share this knowledge freely in the hopes that all of our neighbors will have the ability to incorporate plants into their lives, diets and playscapes.”