Spring Wildflowers and Flower Photography
Monday, May 15th, 2023
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm (Eastern Time)
Aman Park, 1859 Lake Michigan Dr NW, Grand Rapids, MI, 49504 Map
- Public welcome
- Free event
- Family friendly
- Nature walk/hike
- Public Port-a-Potty
- Free public parking
- Lots of physical activity
Presented by Craig Elston, Naturalist/Photographer, CDE Nature
Address is actually 0-1859 Lake Michigan Dr. NW as it is in Ottawa County.
This program will be a combination wildflower hike and flower photography lesson. We will look at and learn about the flowers in bloom and receive tips and instruction on taking better flower photos. The first half will cover the shorter, upper loop trail that is mostly level ground. For those interested in going further, we will proceed to where the Virginia bluebells and trillium are growing and will practice photographing them.
Biography – Craig Elston, CDE Nature, Naturalist – City of Hudsonville, President of White Pine Chapter – Michigan Botanical Club, 2nd Vice President of Wildflower Association of Michigan.
As a Michigan native, Craig has always been interested in nature from his youth on his grandparents’ 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 1990s. 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. Craig has been a member of the Hudsonville Parks and Grounds committee since 1988 and the Naturalist for the City since 2001. In those capacities he was involved in planting a tall grass prairie at Hudsonville Nature Center. Craig has earned the Advanced Master Gardener certification 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 interested and willing to listen. Finding species that are new to him or rare species is always exciting. An interest in the native plant Jeffersonia diphylla has led to an almost obsession with Thomas Jefferson and Monticello.