Text and Photographs by Sue Stephenson reporting for Native Plant News Summer 2026
When Diane Laslie approached me via email a little over a year ago with her thoughts on making an activity book for kids to help them learn about native plants, I thought, “Oh, cool. Sounds like a fun project.” While I didn’t expect it would take me so long, it did, indeed, turn out to be a fun project. Our booklet has a little of everything: Crossword puzzles, word searches, word scrambles, vocabulary match-ups… and, of course, coloring pages.
The NC Department of Agriculture offers an activity book Agriculture Got to Be NC (pdf file), and picking up one at the Green & Growin’ Marketplace in 2024 gave Diane the initial idea: “Let’s do this for native plants.”
Originally there was a group of members from the Triad Chapter willing to assist, but energy lessened and others moved on. Some did submit ideas and text.
Diane also had lots of ideas that she had collected from all around the web. We drew inspiration from many of them and outright used a lot of the stuff we found, but edited and revised, with permission, of course. It turned into a multi-state and multi-organization project—a real collaborative effort. (Also, thanks to Paula LaPoint for her editing of much of the text.)
One particularly wonderful piece that inspired us was the Junior Ranger Native Plants Activity Book from the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. You can check it out here (pdf file). Alas, we did not have the budget for such a sumptuous piece, but we did decide we could at least do full color covers.
It was then important to find artists to make this come to life.
The Wild About Natives logo from Trena McNabb was a natural for our front cover. It was originally submitted years ago for a t-shirt contest. Seeking an artist to depict a North Carolina ecosystem, Carolina Corona of Asheville agreed to provide the original watercolor found on the inside front cover. (Thanks to Trena for recommending Carolina.)
Preston Montague was very willing to assist us with our own version of a Pollinator Match-Up and Find the Pollinators drawing. Preston is a landscape architect, artist and educator. His detailed art is perfect for these pages.
The Life of an Oak Tree was inspired from a K-2 learning resources lesson document from the state of Mississippi. The Spring Wildflowers illustrations were kindly provided to us by the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. With permission, we used the wildflowers found in most North Carolina counties from their activity book (pdf file).
Terry Loeb, Secretary of the NCNPS Board, stepped up and offered to draw the five carnivorous plants. A woman of many talents. Aren’t they cool?
Katie Crawford and her whimsical art featuring plants and wildlife was generous in allowing us to use her Southern Toad illustration to encourage all to watch for wildlife.
I was responsible for pulling all of this together and designing the front and back covers, and I think the final product is a great example of what can be accomplished when we all work together.
Interested in checking out a copy? Visit the NCNPS booth at the next tabling event. Chapters that would like copies to hand out can contact Kelly Gage, kellyagage@gmail.com.
Sue Stephenson is a retired web and graphic designer, currently living in Madison County. She has been a Cooperative Extension Master Gardener since 1990, both here and in her native New England, and is currently working on getting her current western North Carolina garden certified as a native plant habitat.