What is this website?

A simple, navigable way to choose native North American plants for your garden.

Who made it?

Plant Coach is a labor of love created by Ellen Airhart and John Agnew.

Ellen Airhart is a writer and dirt enthusiast. She covers emergency preparedness and cleaning for Wirecutter. She also creates an independent podcast called Plant Crimes and writes about botany for Popular Science. She is head of the plant committee at her community garden and volunteers with the organization Girls Write Now. She is an alum of the science, health and environmental reporting program at NYU. In her free time, she likes to amble, read, and make visual art. Here’s her website. Her newsletter and Instagram are both places where you can keep up with her work.

John is a software engineer who likes plants, history, politics, and math. Maybe one day he'll get around to starting a blog. In the meantime, talk to him on LinkedIn.

What are the links on the names on the results page?

We connect you with organizations like botanical gardens and nonprofit databases where you can learn more about the plants you chose. We did our best to choose reputable sources, but we don’t control or endorse any website besides the one you’re on now.

Where can I get native plants?

Learning about plant species on this website is the first step on a long adventure. Ellen has written more about how to collect native seeds and plants for your garden.

Are you sponsored by an evil billionaire?

No, we just did this for fun. We’re not selling your data.

How can I get in touch with you?

Send questions, suggestions and praise to ellen [dot] airhart [at] gmail [dot] com. You can tip us on Venmo.