The Yellowstone Gateway Museum in Livingston celebrates Native Plant Month during the next Family Days on Saturday, April 29, from 10am to 12pm. Staff and volunteers provide activities that celebrate native plants for students, youth, and their families. Activities are available for all ages.

During April people across Montana and the nation celebrate native plants by planting native trees, shrubs, perennials, vines and grasses, removing non-native plants and restoring native habitats to allow birds, bees, butterflies and all wildlife to flourish. Come to the museum and enjoy various activities that raise awareness about our beautiful, native plants.

Members and volunteers of the Livingston Tree Board are planting native plants on the museum grounds on Saturday, April 29. Participants can also plant native plant seeds for their home gardens and also design their own native plant garden, using graph paper and pre-cut shapes of various trees, shrubs, and flowers. Coloring sheets of Montana native plants are provided with a color key. The museum will also use MSU Extension Office 4-H Range Plant Labels to field identify native plants on museum property. These are available to the general public at the extension office in Livingston. Daylily and iris plants thinned from the museum bed are available to take home that day!

During Family Days, the museum’s Montana Native Plants Teaching Trunk will be on display. Park High School students collected fifteen specimens from the area around historic Fort Parker, east of Livingston, preserved them and researched how native peoples used the plants for food or medicine, which is included in the trunk. (Educators can check out this and other Indian Education for All trunks at the museum for classroom use.) In addition, scrapbooks created by Olga Fraser from specimens she collected in Yellowstone National Park (with permission) in the 1970s will be on display. 

Family Days is held on the last Saturday of each month. Families can visit the museum and participate in different activities that encourage exploration of the museum through different themes. Admission is free.

Visit www.yellowstonegatewaymuseum, Facebook or Instagram for updates. Call 406-222-4184 for details.