About
Learn how to identify wild plants!
Welcome to Learn Oregon Plants! I write easy-to-understand articles that teach you how to identify Oregon’s trees, shrubs, and wildflowers.
What I write about:
Why is plant identification important?
Learning about wild plants is rewarding in so many ways—it deepens our connection to the natural world, expands our sense of curiosity and wonder, and helps us notice little details that others miss, like a single, red huckleberry tucked deep in the undergrowth, or the first Indian plum bud opening in the spring.
With hundreds of plant species in Northwest Oregon, there’s a lot to learn! My posts will introduce you to some of Oregon’s most common wildflowers, trees, bushes, and wildflowers throughout different seasons and ecosystems, all written in a way that’s simple and easy to understand.
Meet your plant guide
Hi, my name is Francesca! I’m an environmental writer and plant enthusiast based in West Linn, Oregon.
I grew up with a forest in my backyard, and that’s where I first got to know many of Oregon’s native plants. As a child, I made up my own names for them—red elderberry was the ‘poison berry bush,’ sword ferns were ‘long-trunked thunder elephants,’ and western red cedars were simply ‘the home tree.’
As I got older, I started to wonder what the plants in my forest were actually called. So I checked out some plant identification books from the library, and I taught myself how to identify them!
My lifelong passion for nature led me to pursue a B.A. in environmental studies and an M.A. in environmental humanities, as well as a series of wilderness and backcountry survival courses. After graduating, I spent a few years working at environmental nonprofits, and now I work as a writer and copy editor and the manager of the Indie Bookstore Search.
In my free time, I love hiking and learning all I can about wild plants, and I love teaching others about them. That’s why I decided to make this website—to help make plant identification as easy and accessible as possible! Please let me know if you have any questions (or just want to say hello!) using the form on the contact page.
Meet my assistant
Cashew the terrier
Meet Cashew, my service dog! She’s the sweetest girl and a very good hiking assistant. In her free time, she enjoys swimming in the river, doing zoomies around the living room, playing with her carrot toy, having playdates with her cousin, Basil, and going for walkies.
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