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 2025, Season 2 of this free, virtual botanical banquet is focused on 24 different plant families, exploring their unique characteristics and ways they have adapted through time. New videos are uploaded on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at noon. Want to know when new episodes go live? Sign up here! You can also explore Season 1 on the Botany Bistro archive page.

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.

Seasonally, Botany Bistro will also meet virtually “live” to celebrate the equinoxes/solstices, chat about our adventures, hear about Mary’s behind the scenes bloopers and address questions sent in via the form linked in each video’s description on our YouTube channel.

The Botany Bistro Schedule

Here are the dates new episodes will drop in 2025. They’re also listed on our main calendar, or you can sign up for email notifications.

• January 8, 2025: Pinaceae Family

• January 22, 2025: Cactaceae Family

• February 12, 2025: Bignoniaceae Family

• February 26, 2025: Crassulaceae Family

• March 12, 2025: Ranunculaceae Family

• March 26, 2025: Brassicaceae Family

• April 9, 2025: Fabaceae Family

• April 23, 2025: Magnoliaceae Family

• May 7, 2025: Liliaceae Family

• May 21, 2025: Lamiaceae Family

• June 11, 2025: Fagaceae Family

• June 25, 2025: Juglandaceae Family

Email Notifications

If you’d like to be notified when new episodes are published and receive reminders about quarterly virtual “live” gatherings, sign up here:

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.”