How Modern Horticulture Lost the Plot: Plants as Essential Infrastructure

MHG Meetings

Sponsored By: Metro Hort Group


How Modern Horticulture Lost the Plot: Plants as Essential Infrastructure
Joey Santore, an American self-taught botanist, naturalist, illustrator, educator, and YouTube creator

Thursday, February 19, 2026
Time: 6PM
Location: Zoom

Come early to chat with one another!
More information to come!

For most of its history, American horticulture has been merely about viewing plants solely through the lens of using them for food or for "beauty", whatever that means. Somewhere along the way, it came to mean selling products and maintaining corporate landscapes more than understanding how plants actually function in their environments, or the benefits that they can provide to their surroundings, such as mitigating the heat island effect, "catching" pollution and particulate exhaust, and reducing the potential for flooding. In this presentation, we'll look at what functions plants serve in the urban landscape and why they are so essential to the quality of life there. We will also examine why native plants are the most important to use in urban plantings, due to their numerous connections to the other organisms that once lived in the places where our cities now stand.

Joey Santore is an American self-taught botanist, naturalist, illustrator, educator, and YouTube creator best known for his channel Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t, where he explores plant ecology, evolution, and ecosystems with a distinctive Chicago accent and an irreverent commentary style.

Joey grew up in La Grange, a Chicago suburb, and was raised by his mother (an elementary school teacher) after his father left when Joey was about 1 year old. He briefly attended community college (Pima Community College near Tucson, then in San Francisco), but did not complete a degree — instead pursuing plant ecology out of passion. As a teen, he was kicked out of military school, got involved in the punk scene, travelled across the U.S. (often hopping freight trains), and developed a strong fascination with science and the natural world.

Joey’s main platform is his YouTube channel, Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t, where he:

  • Documents field visits to various ecosystem
  • Explains plant species, ecology, evolution, and biogeography.
  • Uses humor, blunt language, and a thick Chicago accent to make botany accessible and entertaining.
  • His storytelling often blends citizen science with “vigilante environmentalism”, challenging conventional botany communication styles and reaching a wide audience.

In 2023, Joey co-hosted a TV series called Kill Your Lawn (with Al Scorch), promoting replacing traditional lawns with native plants to support biodiversity — mixing education with his trademark humor and style.

TO REGISTER:
To attend this meeting, you must be a current Metro Hort member.
Pre-registration is required.

Members, please check your email for invitation.
Non-members, we’d love to see you there — Sign up here to join us and get this and all future invitations.

Deadline to Register: *90 minutes before meeting start-time

Joey Santore

Joey Santore