THE METRO PHOENIX
FIELD GUIDE
UPDATES AND WELCOME

Hello Neighborhood Naturalists,

Welcome to monsoon season! For this month's EcoQuest, we're collaborating with Arizona artist Mary Meyer on The Leaf Connection, a community art project focused on connecting people to nature through observing and sharing images of leaves. Be sure to check out the EcoFlora Toolkit included in this newsletter as well!

Wishing you great discoveries,
Jeny, EcoFlora Coordinator
IN THIS NEWSLETTER

Welcome

EcoQuest News Flash

Happenings

Leafy Reads

EcoFlora Toolkit

Merit System

Resources
ECOQUEST NEWS FLASH
July 2022 EcoQuest:
The Leaf Connection
Find and map your favorite leaves!

The Leaf Connection is a new community engagement art project developed by Arizona artist Mary Meyer in collaboration with Metro Phoenix EcoFlora.

Join the project for a chance to see your observation come to life. Select observations will be used to inform leaf designs for a large wall installation that carries hundreds of clay leaves that Mary will sculpt by hand. The installation will be mapped out to reflect the Phoenix metropolitan area and illustrate the diversity of plants and people in our desert home.
June EcoQuest Results:
Unfamiliar Pollinators
For the June EcoQuest, we asked you to observe unfamiliar pollinators. When it comes to pollinators, honey bees and butterflies often appear in most people’s minds, but native bees, wasps, flies, beetles, and true bugs also play a critical role in pollination.

Be sure to check out the accompanying guide we created for help with identification of lesser-known insect pollinators that you might find working in your yard, patio garden, or local park.

RESULTS: 630 observations of 187 species
Most Obervations: 151 by thegardenhound
Most Species: 33 by kneubaue

Bee fly photo courtesy of George Roark (@thegardenhound).
HAPPENINGS
ECOQUESTIONS WITH
ARIZONA ARTIST MARY MEYER
July 27 | 6:30 p.m. at Desert Botanical Garden

Join us for EcoQuestions and learn all about a new community engagement art project
developed by Arizona artist Mary Meyer in collaboration with Metro Phoenix EcoFlora.

The Leaf Connection project invites participants to use iNaturalist to share images of
leaves within the urban desert of metro Phoenix. Select observations will be used to inform leaf designs for a large wall installation that carries hundreds of clay leaves that Mary will sculpt by hand. The installation will be mapped out to reflect the Phoenix metropolitan area and illustrate the diversity of plants and people in our desert home.

In this session, Mary will share about her personal connection with leaves and their
influence on her creative work, guide us through basic leaf botany, and provide information about The Leaf Connection Project.
Mary will have examples of her work and there will be an opportunity to learn how to use the iNaturalist app and join the project.

Visit Mary's website: www.marymeyerstudio.com
Follow on Instagram: @marymeyerstudio, @the.leaf.connection

This event will be held in Dorrance Center, number 8 on this map,
next to Boppart Courtyard. Please ask admissions for guidance if needed.

EcoQuestions are presentations and Q&A sessions with scientists, experts or community members focused on the monthly EcoQuest topic.
LEAFY READS
The Book of Leaves offers a visually stunning and scientifically engaging guide to six hundred of the most impressive and beautiful leaves from around the world. Each leaf is reproduced here at its actual size, in full color, and is accompanied by an explanation of the range, distribution, abundance, and habitat of the tree on which it’s found. Brief scientific and historical accounts of each tree and related species include fun-filled facts and anecdotes that broaden its portrait.
Leaves are one of nature’s marvels. But how do they grow? Why are they the shapes they are? What makes an evergreen, evergreen? The Lives of Leaves is a beautifully illustrated compendium of the tales, science and history of leaves from all around the world, from sugar maple and how leaves change colour, to gingko and the history and future of leaves as medicine. It’s the story of what they do, what we do with them, and why we can’t do without them.
ECOFLORA TOOLKIT
The EcoFlora partner gardens have been working hard on a toolkit for creating your own EcoFlora project, and we're excited to share it with you!

This toolkit provides an overview of the EcoFlora program, describes how to create and implement an EcoFlora project and offers examples of how you can engage the community in plant science and study the surrounding urban environment.

Experiences, expertise and lessons learned are also shared by each of the EcoFlora partner gardens.
MERIT SYSTEM
Did you know? We have a merit system!
Have you made observations for the project? You could be earning merits.
From stickers and shirts to gear and park passes, there's all kinds of great rewards.

Open to project members only, while supplies last.
RESOURCES
What We Do | In collaboration with Desert Botanical Garden and the Central Arizona Conservation Alliance (CAZCA), the Metro Phoenix EcoFlora project is making plant science meaningful and open for everyone, while we learn about the biodiversity of our urban desert home.
Let's be social.