Herbarium

Plant Library

at White Feather Farm

White Feather Farm presents a unique opportunity for plant preservation; 60 plus acres of woods and wetlands, a pond, two merging tributaries and newly established, organic farm fields. Land with plenty of biodiversity full of native, naturalized, and invasive species. Thanks to our founder, Sarah Johnson, we are offered this beautiful terrain to learn and explore and have a direct lens on the beauty and complexity of nature.

Plants observed, collected and preserved at White Feather Farm

Listed in alphabetical order by common name

  • A

    allegheny monkey flower

    alsike clover

    american bur-reed

    american black elderberry

    arrow-leaved tear thumb

    azure bluet

    B

    bird’s foot trefoil

    bittersweet nightshade

    black knapweed

    bladder sedge

    blue-eyed grass

    blunt broom sedge

    bladder-pod lobelia

    blunt spike rush

    boneset throughwort

    bristly aster

    broad leaf arrow head

    brown knapweed

    B

    dark green bulrush

    deer tongue

    deptford pink

    dotted smartweed

    C

    calico American aster

    common arrowhead/water plantain

    common bull thistle

    common buttonbush

    common cattail

    common dewberry

    common milkweed

    common quick weed

    common wood sedge

    cut-grass

    cypress

  • D

    dark green bulrush

    deer tongue

    deptford pink

    dotted smartweed

    F

    field dodder

    field horsetail

    field mint

    field pennycress

    fox glove beard tongue

    fox sedge

    fringed loosestrife

    fringed sedge

    frost aster

    G

    giant chickweed

    grass-leaved goldenrod

    H

    halberd-leaved smartweed

    heal all

    heart-leaved aster

    hop clover

    hop sedge

  • L

    lance-leaf american-aster

    lakeside sedge

    M

    meadow sweet

    mountain mint

    N

    northern blue iris

    O

    oval sedge

    P

    pasture rose

    path rush

    poke weed

    pointed broom sedge

    purple loosestrife

    purple stem aster

    purple verbena

  • R

    rattlesnake manna grass

    red-top bent grass

    robin’s plantain

    rough fleabanes

    S

    sallow sedge

    sensitive fern

    slender false foxglove

    slender vetch

    smaller forget-me-not

    spotted St. John’s wort

    starwort

    steeplebush

    stiff three-petaled bed straw

    squarrose sedge

    swamp smart weed

    swamp milk weed

    sweet flag

    sweet pepper bush

    T

    tall meadow rue

    tear thumb

    three-petaled bedstraw

    three-way sedge

    timothy grass

    towering rock cress

    tufted sedge

    V

    vetch

    virginia marsh st. john’s wort

    W

    white avens

    white meadowsweet

    white wood aster

    wild bee-balm

    wrinkle leaf goldenrod

    wood lily

    Y

    yellow water lily

2023 Collection

2022 Collection

2021 Collection

Creation for Future Generations.

Because of our changing climate, the ecological, geographical and evolutionary shifts that will continue to occur over time will result in either land resilience or depletion, our human footprint is encroaching on natural and untouched spaces. With all of this happening, some plant species may not make it, it is important that we have a record of as many species as we can!

The plants collected have been identified in the field, noting their habitat and general morphology. They are pressed, frozen, preserved on acid free herbarium sheets using PH neutral adhesive, stitched with cotton thread when needed, numbered, labeled, photographed and safely stored.

The plants in a region give us such valuable information and tell us a story.


  • A preserved plant is a record that links it to a specific time and place offering precious information.

  • Genetic information can be obtained from the DNA of pollen and seeds

  • A preserved plant holds both scientific and historical information and becomes a gift for future generations.


Meet Kris Garnier

Kris is the Head Gardener and Land Steward at White Feather Farm as well as a local herbarium artist & educator living just outside Woodstock , NY. She has been a a plant fanatic for the 25 plus years since she moved to the Hudson Valley. Her goal is to collect a record of as many plants as possible in our local landscape. She has collected over 180 plants just from her 5 acre property in Woodstock alone!  Kris was awarded a grant through the Susanna Meyer Creative Arts Award in 2020 that culminated in a 2021 plant collection exhibit at The Lamb Center in Saugerties, NY. She is excited to offer hands on herbarium workshops at with White Feather Farm this summer, workshop dates coming soon!

Meet Matt Sorrano

Matt holds a Master's in Natural Science from New York State University of Plattsburgh. He has been field collecting wild plants at White Feather Farm since 2023, is currently managing our orchard, and works reverently in our many growing fields.