April 25: Rachel Flora “The Flora of Peterborough”

Rachel grew up exploring forests, fields and fens with her family in the Niagara Region. After several years of big city life in Toronto and Montreal, she moved to Peterborough to pursue a BSc at Trent University in biology and geography. While Rachel enjoyed urban strolls, she longed for lush greens and open areas and was excited to rediscover the natural world she remembered fondly from her childhood. Upon her arrival in Peterborough she promptly set off exploring parks in and around the area, getting to know a small gem in the north end particularly well as she visited it nearly every day from snowmelt to snowfall. Rachel is currently pursuing a MSc at Queen’s University and is looking forward to spending the summer hiking in the woods collecting data for her research project, and of course stopping to see the wildflowers.

In her talk, Rachel will be taking us on a journey through the seasons in Peterborough and sharing stories and photos of some of the hundreds of plants she has encountered in and around Peterborough, some of her favourite places to wander and other ramblings from the trail. It is her hope that you will be inspired to seek out wildflowers in wild places, and that you will incorporate some of that wild in your gardens.