Quinta Mazatlán invites the community to deepen their understanding of the plant world during a special extended Thursday Night Live presentation, “Concrete Botany,” with naturalist, author, and educator Joey Santore on April 23, 2026, from 6 to 8 p.m.

In this 90-minute program, participants will learn how to identify plants and their key features, recognize plant families, and discover why grouping plants this way reveals so much about their ecology and evolution. The presentation will also introduce attendees to common native plants of the Rio Grande Valley and explore how they survive and thrive in the region’s extreme heat and conditions. Participants will also gain practical tools, including how to use platforms like iNaturalist to support plant identification and learning in the field.

This program will be led by Joey Santore, an acclaimed naturalist, educator, author, illustrator, and host of the widely followed YouTube channel Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t. Through his work, Santore encourages people to see plants not just for their use, but as living organisms shaped by deep evolutionary histories and ecological relationships. Drawing on years of field observation, he connects plants to geology, disturbance, and time, revealing how even the most overlooked landscapes tell complex ecological stories.

In addition to the presentation, attendees will have the opportunity to explore Joey’s latest work, Concrete Botany: The Ecology of Plants in the Age of Human Disturbance, which will be available for purchase and signing at the Quinta Mazatlán gift shop. In this book, Santore examines how plant communities’ function in real-world, often disturbed environments, challenging traditional ideas of what healthy landscapes should look like. His work highlights how dense, irregular, and “messy” plant growth can reflect resilience and ecological strength, offering a fresh perspective on native plant gardening and land stewardship.

For more information, contact 956-681-3370, follow Quinta Mazatlán on social media, or visit quintamazatlan.com.