Native Orchid Conservation Efforts at Longwood Gardens with Peter Zale, Ph.D.

Native Orchid Conservation Efforts at Longwood Gardens
Recorded on Thursday, April 20, 2023
Presented by Peter Zale, Associate Director of Conservation, Plant Breeding, and Collections, Longwood Gardens

Pennsylvania’s beautiful wild orchids require a specialized approach to conservation, and public gardens play a key role in supporting these efforts. In 2015, Longwood Gardens initiated a native orchid conservation program that focuses on the horticultural aspects of ex situ orchid conservation, including seed propagation, seedling establishment, and collections development. This is balanced with in situ restoration, population assessments of rare species, and field work to catalog previously unknown orchid occurrences. Learn more about the development, successful outcomes, and future aspirations of the program to date.

This lecture was a part of our monthly Third Thursday Lecture Series.