Get the Botany education you wish you’d had.
The Secret:
Plant Families!
Know one plant in a family… and you know them all.
Regenerate soil. Garden better.
Forage safely. Harvest more.
Preserve easily. Heal simply.
Teach your kids plant skills for life!
Basic Course
You can be outdoors finding plants you know in just under an hour! Learn the four most commonly found plant families.
$55 – Basic Course
Advanced Course
Expand your skills to recognize and use the four families taught in the Basic Course, plus add four new ones to your skill set.
$95 – Advanced Course
Challenge Course
Don’t stop now! Maximize your learning. Learn to recognize and use 16 plant families. You’re up to it! Accept the challenge!
$175 – Challenge Course
Freebies!
Free articles and downloads on botany basics, herbal medicine, plant identification, teaching your kids Botany and more!
I remember sitting on the couch over 15 years ago as I was beginning to study herbs and thinking, “How am I ever going to learn all of these plants?” I thought of my mom and grandmother and all the plants that they knew and had taught me to love. I remember thinking that I guess I’d just have to learn one plant at a time and over the years I’d accumulate a bank of knowledge. And that’s what I did for the next five years. I studied one plant at a time.
Then we bought our first house and for the first time in my adult life, I had a tiny flower bed to call my own. I dove head first into gardening and every flower became my friend. I studied one flower at a time as I tried to grow new things and make my flower beds beautiful.
If you had asked me about plant families at that time, I would have scoffed at the idea of learning something so archaic. I didn’t have time for that. I had a baby to care for, kids to feed and homeschool. I viewed plant families as something that was unnecessary and definitely more complicated than what I brain space for. What I didn’t realize was that what is quietly present under all that seemingly complicated taxonomy is the secret to learning plants easily.
When you understand the botanical relationships between plants and know which plants are related to one another you can make educated decisions on companion planting, water, light, and soil requirements, propagation methods, planting and harvest times, pests, diseases, and their remedies, and soil health.
You can do all this without cracking open one botany book. All you need is your own experience and observational skills. All that is required of you: Learn one plant well, find out what family it is in, and apply that knowledge to nearly all the other plants in that same plant family.
Know one plant in a family, and you know them all!
Apply what you know about your favorite plant to dozens, hundreds, and sometimes thousands of other plants that are related to it.
Got an hour? Learn 3 Ways…
2. Guided Self-Study Group
Join a small group for a guided, 6 week, plant family self-study. Private, community discussion forum with the option to buy a customized class workbook at the end.
3. Choose a Course!
Choose from three different levels of plant identification classes that teach you not only how to recognize the plants that grow around you, but how to use them too!
What people are saying…
“This is way more fun than learning from a book.”
~ Sal Y.
“I highly recommend this class. It was a great way to learn about the amazing world of botany! My son said, “I never knew Botany could be so much fun!”.”
~ Lisa VH
“My family loved this class! The children and I learned so much – we love going on nature walks and try to identify and classify the plants and trees.”
~ Giovanna D.
Meet Your Instructor
Hi. I’m Rachel Parks. I’m an elementary school teacher and homeschool mom. I’ve been teaching botany and plant identification to kids and their grown-ups in NY and NJ for almost 10 years. Let me teach you how to recognize and remember plants so that you can get outside and start making the most of your garden. It’s so easy even my 4-year-old students can do it! The secret is teaching them how to recognize plant families!
Contact us
Email: hello@botanyinanhour.com
YouTube: @botanyinanhour
Facebook: @botanyinanhour
Instagram: @botanyinanhour
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should I learn plant families?
Plant families are the secret key to learning plants quickly and easily. When you learn plant families, you learn whole groups of plants rather than tediously studying one plant at a time.
How will learning plants in their family groups benefit me?
Once you know what plants are part of which plant family, you can make educated decisions on companion planting, growing conditions, pests and diseases, best uses and preserving of what you grow, planting and harvest times, whether a plant might have medicinal properties, and so much more.
How can I learn about plant families on my own?
Grab journal and pick out a plant that you know really well. Write down everything you know about that plant. Now look up what plant family that plant is in. Then look up a list of the other plants that are in that same family. Guess what? All that stuff you wrote down about that first plant. You can probably apply most of it to all the other plants in the family as well. Know one plant in a family and you know them all!
What if I don’t have a lot of time to study?
No problem. This method is simple and easy. I teach it it four-year-olds all the time. You don’t have time not to learn plant families because once you know what family group a plant is part of, you can know so much about it.
Will knowing plant families really make my garden better?
Yes! Once you know what plants are part of what family, you can quickly and easily add more diversity in your garden when you plant more plant families together in the same garden space. This will improve your soil health, ward off disease, and naturally fertilize your garden.
What other ways can plant families help me?
People with plant based food allergies and food sensitivities benefit from knowing plant families as it can help them determine what other foods may be botanically related to the foods they react to and what they should be eating instead. Mystery food reactions can sometimes be corrected by avoiding the other botanically related foods. Subscribe below to be notified of my upcoming “Foods by Plant Family Guidebook.”