[2][3] Hayden taught botany as an instructor at Iowa State beginning in 1911, and continued in this role until she earned her doctoral degree.

[2] In both these works and her own, Hayden displayed a significant proficiency with photography when portraying the subjects of her research.

[7] She concentrated on prairie plants of the lakes region, and is credited with "possibly the best published native flora survey… of any part of Iowa".

She systematically developed a database of information relevant for decisions about land acquisition, working with the State Conservation Commission (SCC) to purchase areas of relict prairie.

[2] Despite her relentless work and dedication to studying flora and prairies, she was denied many permanent teaching and research jobs at Iowa State.