Botanical Quest: Documenting Michigan’s
Rare Native Flora Through Photography

Presented by Craig D. Elston
Owner of CDE Nature and Naturalist for the City of Hudsonville MI (

About his presentation
This presentation will be a journal as it were of my quest for finding and photographing rare and not so common native plant species in Michigan. Plants from all corners of the state will be shown, including the stories of the adventure for locating many of them.

You’ll see plants from the Southwest lower corner to the Western Upper Peninsula, over to the Eastern Upper Peninsula and down to the Southeast lower corner of the state and many areas in between. “If you are comfortable on your outings, you aren’t finding exciting plants.”

About the Speaker
Craig D. Elston is the proprietor of CDE Nature, Naturalist for the City of Hudsonville, Michigan, President of White Pine Chapter of the Michigan Botanical Club and Second Vice President of Wildflower Association of Michigan.

As a Michigan native, Craig has always been interested in nature from his youth on his grandparent’s farm through the present. He has also always been interested in growing plants and has had a great interest in native plants for most of his adult life. Craig has been leading interpretive hikes at the Hudsonville Nature Center since the mid 1990’s. He has also led walks and presented lectures or slide programs at other nature centers, including Hoffmaster State Park’s Gillette Visitor Center, Frederik Meijer Gardens, the Michigan Botanical Club, various events for MSU County Extensions in West Michigan and other garden clubs or nature organizations.

He has served as a member of the Hudsonville Parks and Grounds committee since 1988 and has been the naturalist for the City since 2001. Craig was involved in planting a Tall Grass Prairie in the nature center.

He has earned the Advanced Master Gardener from Ottawa County. In 2003 he was privileged to be a part of the Kent County MSU Extension’s Master Naturalist program from its inception, developing and writing the Prairie Environments segment with time both indoors and in the field for first hand personal experience. His interest for Michigan’s native flora is not just observation and photographing, but propagation and cultivation of these marvelous gems. He finds it exciting to not only learn about these habitats and their inhabitants, but also to share with others who are willing to listen. Finding species that are new to him or rare species is always exciting. An interest in the native plant Jeffersonia has led to an almost obsession with Thomas Jefferson and Monticello.

Presentation Date - March 27, 2021