In celebration of this month’s 50th Anniversary of Earth Day and National Arbor Day celebrations, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is excited to announce a fun, interactive way to learn about plants and nature from one’s own backyard. It’s easy to get involved with the EcoFlora Project! Using a smartphone or a camera, snap a picture of a plant in Sarasota or Manatee county and upload it to iNaturalist. Each month, Selby will feature a new EcoQuest Challenge to focus on different species and keep things exciting!

THE FIRST ECOQUEST CHALLENGE

The first challenge will take place April 24-27 and is the internationally-recognized City Nature Challenge, which encourages citizens of communities around the world to locate, document, and identify plants through photographs that share where plants are geographically located. This is a truly international effort! It was held competitively in past years, but this year everyone counts, so please sign in to Selby’s local Challenge! Learn more here. The EcoFlora Project is a collaboration with the New York Botanical Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden, Denver Botanic Garden, and Desert Botanical Garden and is funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences.

Visit here to learn more.