Sammie Lyle - Plant Collections and Records Intern

Sammie Lyle – Plant Collections and Records Intern

Hi there! My name is Sammie Lyle, I’m the Plant Collections and Records Intern here at Reiman Gardens. I am a junior at Iowa State studying Public Horticulture and Entomology. In this past month of interning, I have been able to immerse myself in a completely new area of horticulture! Allow me to explain my leadership project for this summer.

I am often seen out in the gardens with a clipboard- either mapping our plant collections and making sure they are accurately labeled, or observing plants to submit data for the USA National Phenology Network’s program called Nature’s Notebook. We take data to note the phenolic (cyclic) changes in plant growth, like when trees begin to produce flower buds. The network’s collective data is used to show how plant species are reacting to changes in our climate, locally and nationally. For my leadership project I have chosen to add five more herbaceous perennials to our observations of woody perennials. I enjoy my trips to revisit the same species to see new changes over the course of each week. It brings a special attention to all of the seemingly small developments plants undergo that I would have otherwise missed!