Emily Griffoul, Betty Ford Alpine Gardens The conservation team at Betty Ford Alpine Gardens is hard at work to expand our impact on alpine ecosystems through the implementation of the North American Botanic Garden Strategy for Alpine Conservation (Alpine Strategy). With a new Conservation Scientist on board, we had a successful 2020 field season despite the […]
Clayton Hale, Mississippi State University Miller’s witch-alder (Fothergilla milleri) (Hamamelidaceae) is a small shrub known from a few populations in coastal Alabama, the panhandle of Florida, and one county in Georgia. According to NatureServe, F. milleri is a G2 globally imperiled species. It was first described in March of 2020 and is one of only two […]
Dennis Whigham, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Long-term monitoring of Isotria medeoloides at two sites in Virginia have been combined with observations from an understory thinning experiment at one site and death of a large canopy tree at a second site. New plants emerged at both sites following increased light levels and flowering and fruit production increased. […]
Peter Zale, Longwood Gardens Despite significant advances in seed propagation and production of lady’s slipper orchids (Cypripedium spp.) in the last 25 years, the genus remains rare in ex situ collections, access to seedlings from local populations that may capture important genetic diversity is rare, they are expensive to purchase, and there are still inconsistencies and […]
Tony Gurnoe, San Diego Botanic Garden A small disjunct population of Quercus cedrosensis just north of the border faces a barrage of threats, from wildfire and drought to succumbing to bulldozer blades as part of the border wall construction. Recognizing the immediacy of the need, especially given the lack of even a single ex-situ specimen known […]
Valerie Pence, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Plant species that, either through seed availability or physiology, are unable to be conserved and recovered using conventional seed banking practice have been designated as exceptional plants. A definition of exceptionality has recently been put forward, describing four factors that contribute to this condition, depending on what step in […]
Lauren Muller, State Botanical Garden of GA at UGA The Science and Conservation Department at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia serves as a link between Georgians and plant conservation. Much of our work takes place within the context of the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, a statewide network of conservation professionals whose mission is to study […]
Christa Horn, Katie Heineman, Darren Smith, Joyce Maschinski, Cara Stafford, Sheri Smith, Kim Corella The Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana ssp. torreyana), a rare G1 ranked and IUCN Red Listed pine, has its largest population in the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. However, this population has seen die off in recent years due to a combination […]
Chad Washburn, Naples Botanical Garden Naples Botanical Garden opened its doors to the public in 2009, including regionally themed gardens, on-site natural areas, and educational programs. Initial conservation endeavors focused on restoring a portion of the garden from invasive exotic Melaleuca quinquenervia to a diverse coastal marsh. Efforts to conserve the region’s plants expanded in 2017 […]
Carrie A. Radcliffe, Chair & Coordinator, Southeastern Plant Conservation Alliance, Emily E.D. Coffey, Ph.D., Vice President of Conservation & Research, Southeastern Center for Conservation at Atlanta Botanical Garden  The Southeastern Plant Conservation Alliance (SE PCA) is a partnership of professionals bridging gaps between local and national plant conservation efforts to prevent and restore the loss […]
Ben Nyberg, National Tropical Botanical Garden Understanding the distribution and abundance of rare plant populations is a critical first step to their conservation. In the past few years, botanists and technology specialists at the National Tropical Botanical Garden have been working together on drone methodology to survey the extreme cliff ecosystems of Kauai. 2020 was an […]