If Plants Could Talk: a Cherokee Relationship

Cherokee Elder Tony Harris will teach us about plants of cultural and historical significance to the Cherokee people. See examples of medicinal, practical, ceremonial, and culinary uses for a variety of plants. Mr. Harris also shares and preserves this heritage through the Cherokee Garden at Green Meadows Preserve, which contains many of the plants used by the Cherokee for food, medicine, weapons, tools and ceremonies.

Tony Harris is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation (recognized as an Elder in 2019), born and raised in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He is a graduate of Northeastern State University, originally the Cherokee University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

He is passionate about preserving and sharing his heritage. With wife Carra, he manages the Cherokee Garden at Green Meadows Preserve in Cobb County, which contains many of the plants used by the Cherokee for food, medicine, weapons, tools and ceremonies. The Cherokee Garden has also been designated as an Interpretive Site on The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

Tony is active in the following organizations: Cobb County Master Gardeners, Georgia Native Plant Society, Georgia Trail of Tears Association (also Past President). He has been keynote speaker at the National Cherokee Ethnobotany Conference and is a recipient of the Daughters of the American Revolution Conservation Award.