Meet Catherine Furbish

You can meet Kate, an American botanist who collected, classified and illustrated the native flora of Maine, right in Post Office Square. She’s part of Belfast’s Bootiful Scarecrow exhibition, which also features another BGC entry—still waiting to be named—in the Water-loo garden.  

Kate devoted over 60 years of her life, traveling thousands of miles throughout her home state and creating very accurate drawings and watercolor paintings of the plants she found.

She discovered two plants, which were named after her: Pedicularis furbishiae (Furbish lousewort) and Aster cordifolius L., var. furbishiae.