The Kelsey Chapter serves native plant enthusiasts in the greater Helena and Great Falls areas, the Rocky Mountain Front, and central and north-central Montana.
Chapter President is Elena Johnson.
Contact Chapter Co-Secretaries Hannah Goveia/Lacey Gunther with questions.
Chapter Treasurer is Celia Ison.
Are you interested in native plant landscaping in our area? Click here
Visit the 6th Ward Park native plant garden.
Several members have stepped up to help lead events, & we’re always looking for more people to join in. For information, please contact Hannah or Lacey.
Step up! It’s fun & rewarding! Thanks!
Chapter event planners update members in a monthly newsletter.
What we did June thru November 2025:
- Mark Majerus and Elena Johnson presented “Landscaping with Native Grasses”
- We had a table at the Gardenwerks Fall Market
- We spent a day weeding at the Helena Law & Justice Center to help clean up their native plant project
- Carson Thomas gave us an Ethnobotany presentation on 11/20/25
Upcoming events planned:
- In January 2026, a seed-starting workshop
- In February, membership potluck
- In March, willow ID workshop with Scott Mincemoyer
- And this spring, more weeding days at the Law & Justice Center
We’re also starting to look for a venue for the 2027 Annual Adventure, as Kelsey Chapter will be the host. One idea is to collaborate with Sculptures in the Wild in Lincoln & have a native plants scavenger hunt.
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Some of what we’ve done
The Flora of Mount Helena is a permanent specimen collection housed in the Montana section at the Lewis and Clark Library in Helena. The collection is arranged alphabetically by scientific name; nomenclature follows Dorn 1984. The index cross-references by common name and common family name. Click here for a pdf of the species list. The lovely brochure Mt. Helena Wildflowers was produced jointly by MNPS, the Montana Discovery Foundation, and the Helena/Lewis & Clark NFs.
The Flora of Mount Helena collection is a joint project of the Kelsey Chapter and the Lewis and Clark Library. The Kelsey Chapter donated the specimen collection to the Lewis and Clark Library in 1999.
Germinating Native Plants is presented by Kenda Herman on the MNPS YouTube channel. Grounded in restoration work, Kenda shared her experiences in plant propagation. Her presentation focused on species and strategies that succeed in early succession environments and share her love for ‘weedy’ natives. She provided some strategies to propagate plants from seeds and stems, and talked about lessons learned. Kenda works as the Botany Data Assistant for the Montana Natural Heritage Program in Helena.
“May Your Life Be Like a Wildflower,” on the MNPS YouTube channel, is about Mike Marsh, a Helena-based optician who started photographing wildflowers for fun. In January 2021, he started sharing a wildflower post every day on Facebook & established a following. “Discover the beauty in your own backyard,” Mike says. He’s added poems to go with his photos; his enthusiasm is contagious!
In “Native trees and shrubs in the urban environment,” on the MNPS YouTube channel, Carson Thomas tells about using native trees and shrubs in the urban landscape. With a bachelor’s degree in horticulture, he became a groundskeeper for Montana FWP and eventually, the Nursery Program Specialist for the Montana Department of Agriculture.
Identification and Appreciation of Montana Native Grasses by Mark Majerus can be found on the MNPS YouTube channel. Grasses are the largest, most wide-spread, and economically important plant families world-wide, yet for many, indecipherable. Mark has spent his career working with grasses, and authored the book, Forage and Reclamation Grasses of the Northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. He shows how to distinguish among different grass groups — called “Tribes” — and how to identify individual species.
Botanical Sketchbook In June of 2021, on a cool & sunny Saturday in the Elkhorns, botanical artist Jane Fournier and friend Connie Geiger introduced several of us to the basics of botanical drawing and nature journaling. Jane gave instruction, supplies and assignments. Soon everyone was sketching plants; the morning quickly slipped away. Drawing the plants enhanced our observation skills. Botanical sketchbooks and nature journals can record scientific observations and be records of personal discovery.
An Evening of Wildflowers & Insects on Priest Pass In June 2021, Montana State Entomologist Alyssa Piccolomini and Botanist Layla Dunlap led about 20 of us on an evening outing at Priest Pass west of Helena. Participants identified various forbs and saw a diversity of beetles, bees and flies. The rough fescue (Festuca campestris) grassland hosted at least 30 species of plants such as Camas (Camassia quamash), Moss Phlox (Phlox muscoides), Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis), pasqueflower (Anemone patens), several species of groundsel (Senecio).
Forest Mosses of the South Hills In June 2021, Botanists Justina Dumont (Helena-Lewis & Clark NF) and Andrea Pipp (Montana Natural Heritage Program) led a hike to learn some common forest mosses in the Wakina Sky trail in Helena’s backyard. Stepping off the trail and getting down on all fours, we learned how to see a moss! We examined branching patterns, leaf shapes, shades of green to gold, and the micro-sites where the mosses grow. We saw 11 species, such as Frizzled Crisp (Tortella tortuosa), Broken Top Dicranum (Dicranum tauricum), and Frightened Cattail (Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus). Justina and Andrea discussed moss reproduction and the ecological roles that often go unnoticed. We marveled at mosses’ ability to spring to life with just a spray of water.
Kelseya uniflora 2017 Field Trip to Trout Creek Canyon. For several years, we hoped to see the Kelseya uniflora in full bloom, but the uncertainty of spring weather foiled our attempts! Finally, in early April 2017, six Kelsey Chapter members journeyed to see the spring bloom during a mild spring snowstorm. Our species list, according to the Lesica rule (“only blooming plants count”) was just one, Kelseya uniflora.
These pictures show the plants in bud or just beginning to bloom.
Chapter Projects
Spring Meadow plant surveys
In 2021, we surveyed the Spring Meadow Lake State Park to document the locations of native plants. Botanists Klara Varga, Scott Mincemoyer and Drake Barton lead members searching, identifying and photographing. This helped AmeriCorps intern Amanda Coyle decide where to put signs identifying the natives and their cultural uses. The Kelsey Chapter helped with costs for signs to be placed in 2022.