Increasing regional horticultural capacity for rare plants: takeaways and goals of an inaugural conservation horticulture workshop

The establishment of ex situ living collections is essential to the recovery of many rare plant populations. While there are horticulturists that work in a variety of industries, many regions lack experts trained in the nuances of maintaining a conservation collection. To begin addressing this gap in expertise, the coordinators from the Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee Plant Conservation Alliances organized a Conservation Horticulture Workshop on January 20, 2023 to provide instruction on the best practices in maintaining a conservation collection to new horticultural partners interested in aiding rare plant recovery efforts. There were 4 experienced conservation horticulturists who provided instruction and 40 attendees that included horticulturists from universities, botanical gardens and arboreta, private nurseries, and various nonprofits. The workshop was well received and other state PCA partners expressed interest in organizing future workshops and establishing a conservation horticulture network to share resources and information.