Know Your Trees

Discover and marvel with naturalist Michael Wojtech

Home page header image
Drawing Trees & Leaves page header image
Bark Book page header image
Programs page header image
Recent Work page header image
About page header image
Contact page header image
T-Shirts page header image

Programs for Your Group or Organization

With Michael Wojtech

Trees, with their seemingly infinite diversity, offer us countless paths for revelation. The more I observe and learn about trees, the more I find myself marveling at what I have discovered and asking additional questions. I love to share this process with others through my presentations and workshops for audiences that would like to:

  • Learn tree species identification
  • Understand the growth and ecological processes of trees and forests
  • Connect with the place they live
  • Appreciate the dynamic beauty of trees

My goal is to engage people in a process of curiosity, discovery, and wonder that they can take with them and continue to practice in the landscapes where they live and frequent.

Settings:

  • Indoor, Outdoor, or Both
  • Urban, Suburban, Rural (Interesting trees are everywhere!)

Structure:

  • Short Presentations to Weekend Workshops

Timing:

  • Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall
  • Weekdays or Weekends
  • Day or Evening

For Organizations and Groups such as:

  • Arboretums
  • Associations (Forestry, Horticulture, Nursery & Landscape, Woodland Owners, etc.)
  • Botanical Gardens
  • Conservation Organizations
  • Garden Clubs
  • Land Trusts
  • Libraries
  • Master Gardeners
  • Museums
  • Nature Centers
  • Schools & Universities

Topics

I can present a variety of programs to match your interests. Past offerings have included:

Bark: A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast_Michael WojtechBark: Get to Know Your Trees
The traits typically used to describe trees—leaves, twigs, and buds—are often hard to see or seasonally absent. Join Michael for an exploration of bark, which is always visible, in any season. As you hone your perceptive abilities you will learn about a system for identifying tree species by their bark, and discover why such a variety of bark characteristics exist. Why do some species have smooth bark, while on others it is thick and broken? Why does bark peel?

Tree Buds_photos by Rutherford Platt_program by Michael WojtechCaptivated by Trees: The Work of Rutherford Platt
Rutherford Platt’s captivation by trees, and his almost 40 year career as an esteemed, Burroughs Medal winning naturalist, writer, and photographer, was set in motion one winter day in 1929 when, to his astonishment, he noticed that flower and leaf buds were already present on the seemingly bare branches of trees. Through an exploration of Platt’s life and work we will share his delight for trees, broaden our perceptions through ranges of time and scale, and discover the functional advantages of the distinct characteristic of trees as they grow, reproduce, and interact with their environment.

The Growth of Trees_sycamore_Michael Wojtech_Know Your TreesThe Growth of Trees: A Journey Through Time
No single view of a tree is a fixed snapshot in time that tells the complete story. Join Michael and discover how trees grow, reproduce, and interact with their environment across days, weeks, seasons, and years and over varying scales—from the intricate details of buds, flowers, leaves, and bark that we use for species identification to the collaborative roles of trees in ecosystems. Learn more about the function and experience the beauty of characteristics such as peeling bark, overwintering buds, lobed or toothed leaves, flowers by the thousands, and seeds that fly on the wind.

 

Past venues have included:

Adventure In, Adventure Out
Antioch University New England
Arnold Arboretum
Aton Forest
Bedford Audubon
Berkshire Botanical Garden
Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center
Chatham, Massachusetts
Darien, CT Tree Conservancy
Forest Summit
Garden Club Federation ESS School
Garden Club of the Back Bay
Harris Center
Harvard Forest
Harvard Museum of Natural History
Hitchcock Center for the Environment
Hopkins Forest / Williams College
Mashpee, Massachusetts
Mass Audubon
Medway Public Library

MEES Conference
Montshire Museum of Science
Nashua River Watershed Association
Needham Public Library
NEEEA Conference
New England Society of American Foresters
New England Wild Flower Society
New York Flora Association
Northfield Public Library
Norwood Morrill Memorial Library
NYSOEA Conference
Old Homestead Garden Club
Polly Hill Arboretum
The Rowe Center
Shady Hill School
Springfield Garden Club
Steep Rock Association
Tin Mountain Conservation Center
Tower Hill Botanical Garden
Yale Peabody Museum