PlantIntel Vol. 5, Issue 1

triumphs Techie

Meanwhile, it was no small feat that our scientists recently discovered a previously undocumented population of a threatened species of terrestrial orchids so tiny it’s known to hide in plain sight. Their tool? A computer model they developed for tracking the distribution of this elusive plant. The model considers the environment where a species is known to occur, then predicts new locations where the species could be present.

Yet, when it comes to the plant world, many are surprised to learn how the constant flood of new gadgets and gizmos is lending a highly efficient helping hand to the scientific fields of horticulture and conservation.

The Garden made international headlines three years ago when it partnered with Georgia Tech to test a small robot designed to intentionally move slowly in order to monitor changes in climate conditions over time. Lovingly dubbed the “SlothBot,” the robot’s future plans would include observing orchid pollination in South America or the lives of endangered species of frogs.

Fast forward to 2023, when everything from drones to computers to video cameras is being hauled into the field for conducting research or used in high-tech displays of plant collections, as this issue of PlantIntel explores.

Garden conservation staff are using drones to map the locations of endangered plants tucked away in the nooks and crannies of cliffs towering among the Blue Ridge Mountains. The drones also help identify paths that can be accessed using climbing equipment and can be used to develop baseline data that can be helpful for avoiding physical impact on delicate habitats.

Of course, another tool in saving plants from extinction is public awareness. Videos can go a long way in messaging a need, and what better platform for reaching the masses than social media? Last year, staff traveled to Puerto Rico to create mini-documentaries highlighting plants listed under the Endangered Species Act. The five-minute videos are being used to promote awareness of each species’ threats and proposed solutions.

Back home, even the Garden’s resident frogs are leaping at the opportunity to showcase how technology can shine a brighter light on how plants and animals are interconnected. Our Conservatory frog displays recently underwent a much-needed redo. Four new tanks were designed with state-of-the-art lighting, and mist and cool fog capabilities. Smart technology offers more precise programming of the lighting systems, allowing intensities and spectrums to be adjusted throughout the day.

What’s next? We can’t wait to find out!

DANNY FLANDERS PlantIntel Editor

Very few are amazed anymore by what technology can do. Pardon the cliché, but the possibilities seem literally endless.

PUT TO THE TEST

“A rose is a rose is a rose”? Not so fast. Horticulturists develop an evaluation program to determine which roses make the cut.

GATHER & GROW

PlantIntel

DODGING DANGER

Our resident plant explorer mounts a dangerous trek up Vietnam’s largely unexplored mountains to discover and collect seed from beautiful species of plants.

WELCOME, NEWCOMERS!

Gainesville Garden horticulturists are helping high schoolaged immigrant students get up to speed in their studies, including horticulture and improving their English.

Conservation staffers Will Hembree, left, and Jonathan Gore survey a population of Cliffside Goldenrod in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Getting technical

Drones

By JASON LIGON and JONATHAN GORE

lend invaluable hand in precarious plant conservation work

Drones provide an up-close look at Cliffside Goldenrod in bloom.

These rare and imperiled species often are adapted to highly specialized environmental conditions. Take the Cliffside Goldenrod, Solidago simulans, which grows only tucked away in a few high cliffs and rocky outcrops of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains. It is nearly impossible for humans to safely get up close and personal with individual plants to observe them in bloom or collect their seeds because of the slippery, sheer terrain.

For that reason, staff have enlisted the help of unmanned aircraft systems – better known as drones – in their field research.

Researchers, conservationists and environmental engineers around the world increasingly are using drones, robots and other technolo-

Cymbidium sinense

On any given day, far beyond the Garden’s Midtown borders, the Conservation & Research staff is scattered across the Southeast exploring remote nooks and crannies of the landscape, focused on conserving plant species and communities at the highest risk of extinction.

gy instead of lower-resolution satellite photos and slower land surveying equipment in their work. The versatility of aerial vehicles is well suited for a multitude of tasks in support of conservation efforts. Drones help rid the world of animal poachers, replant forests destroyed by fires, survey rare plants and monitor populations of threatened wildlife, to name a few.

The Garden’s efforts in North Carolina, funded by a grant from the Association of Zoological Horticulture, includes seed banking, or collecting and storing seeds, of Cliffside Goldenrod and three other imperiled plants in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest.

There, the challenging terrain in which this species exists truly lives

up to its “cliffside” namesake. At first, achieving the goal seemed out of reach – that is, until the USDA Forest Service approved a scientific studies permit to fly a drone in the National Forest.

Fortunately, two Garden staff members were certified drone pilots.

The Garden then consulted with the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii about its groundbreaking work, launched in 2016, using specially outfitted drones to survey for extremely rare plants in the steep and inaccessible terrain of Kauai and other Hawaiian islands.

“We started out by creating aerial imagery sets for maps and tracking living collections within our gardens,” said Ben Nyberg, Global

Garden conservation staff consulted with the National Tropical Botanical Garden which has accomplished groundbreaking work using drones for surveying rare plants in the steep terrain of the Hawaiian islands. (Photo courtesy of Adam Williams)

Information System and Drone Program Coordinator for the network of five botanical gardens, preserves and research facilities, and an internationally recognized expert in his field. “Now, our main application is conducting drone surveys for rare and endangered cliff plants.”

Although the canopy cover in the hardwood forests of the Southeast presents its own set of challenges for seed collection, Garden staff, like Nyberg, have been able to use drones to map plant locations and identify paths to the plants that could be accessed using climbing equipment. The equipment also has helped identify flowering individual plants, record their locations and develop a baseline data set that can be honed in on for years to come with minimal physical impact to these delicate habitats and their cliff-dwelling inhabitants.

And Nyberg said those applications are just the beginning of possibilities for plant conservation research. Currently, he’s excited about

WHY IT MATTERS

a new drone attachment his program has developed with Outreach Robotics: a robotic arm that can collect seeds and cuttings from plants growing on vertical cliffs from nearly a mile away. Already, field tests of the device in Hawaii have led to the discovery of a potentially undescribed species of Schiedea, endemic to Hawaii.

“Hopefully, we can continue improving and sharing this technology for plant conservation work around the world,” he said.

A specially-outfitted drone collects a plant from a steep cliff in Hawaii for researchers at the National Tropical Botanical Garden. (Photo courtesy of Ben Nyberg)

JASON LIGON is the Garden’s Micropropagation and Seed Bank Coordinator

JONATHAN GORE is the Conservation Database Coordinator.

Collaboration through nonprofit and governmental partnerships promotes success in conserving rare plant species.

Gather &

grow

Garden helps motivate horticulture therapy participants to overcome barriers

By MOE HEMMINGS

Marselis Clark decided to participate in a local horticulture therapy program because he loves to cook and wanted to learn how to grow herbs. But during the six-week program, Clark, who uses a wheelchair, also found that the other participants would encourage him to stay engaged in a healthy lifestyle.

“I didn’t think I really had an interest in growing plants, but since I started I’m hooked,“ he said. “I’ve met wonderful people with my same limitations that are highly motivated to be active, and that motives me. I’m looking forward to learning more and to keep growing. “

And that’s exactly the point of Gather & Grow, a program that assists people with mobility issues caused by multiple sclerosis or traumatic brain injuries. For the past two years, Garden staff have been lending a hand to the program by offering its horticulture expertise.

Through its Plant.Eat.Repeat. community outreach program, the Garden leads seasonal workshops at Atlanta area community gardens, teaching the basics of conservation agriculture and horticulture. In 2020, the outreach team was approached by Trellis Horticultural Therapy Alliance, a nonprofit group of horticulture therapists who assist people recovering from catastrophic injuries, for help in building and programming an accessible raised-bed community garden at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center. Working collaboratively, the teams refined Gather & Grow, an indoor

Moe Hemmings, the Garden’s Community Outreach Manager (in green shirt), shares the basics of raised-bed gardening with horticulture therapy clients.

garden therapy-based program for adults 18 and over living with spinal cord injuries or other neuromuscular diseases.

One of the program’s main tenets is to show participants how gardening can help them exceed their limitations. Offered in spring and fall, the sessions teach basic horticulture topics such as seed starting, organic labels, and pest and disease management with adaptations for participants who may have limited mobility or cognitive issues. The program focuses on a single topic that is then expanded weekly with participant goals in mind, such as socialization, nutrition, retention and dexterity.

“Trellis uses the power of gardening and nature to enrich the lives of folks living with disabilities,” said Wendy Battaglia, the nonprofit’s co-founder. “It has been incredible to partner with the botanical garden to expose our participants to more gardening education. Many of our participants had never even been to the Garden before, and that was an eye-opening experience for them.”

Last spring, participants grew tomato and basil plants from seeds and cuttings. The seedlings were later sold during the Trellis Spring Open House, when the community was invited to see the adaptive growing space in action. To celebrate their successes, the final session featured a trip to the Garden, where participants created a simple pesto spread made from some of the basil plants they grew during the series.

Gather & Grow has since grown so popular that it has a waiting list for participants.

HEMMINGS is the Garden’s Community Outreach Manager.

MOE

WHY IT MATTERS

Community outreach is integral to the Garden’s educational mission of connecting people with plants.

colors

Garden takes a deep dive into enhancing aquatic plant displays

By AMANDA BENNETT and JIM SMITH

The Conservatory reflecting pond’s colorful waterlilies, including Nymphaea ‘Red Flare’, are a natural draw for Garden guests.

Shades of pink, purple, peach, yellow and white have beckoned Garden guests to the water’s edge for more than two decades.

After all, who can resist the allure of a beautiful waterlily? Every spring, waterlilies, in the genus Nymphaea, and lotus, in the genus Nelumbo, along with dozens of other plants, transform quiet pools around the Garden into aquatic showcases. But last year, horticulturists saw a need for new energy and dove headfirst into adding new varieties of

aquatic plants, starting with the Fuqua Conservatory reflecting pond. There, after maintaining the same hardy varieties for many years and rotating in some tropical lilies, only the best bloomers were kept, and a list of desirable new varieties was developed. With the help of a local wholesale aquatic plant grower, dozens of new selections were added to the reflecting pond.

By summer, the result had guests and staff anticipating what blooms each day might bring. New hardy water lilies like the purple-violet ‘Detective Erika’, bubblegum pink ‘Malakan’ and the fragrant ‘Fragrance and Fortune’ bloomed their hearts out and will continue to for years to come. Favorite new tropical water lilies like ‘Foxfire’ with large, striped leaves, vibrant pink ‘Ultraviolet’ and shade-tolerant ‘Rhonda Kay’ would not live through the winter, but their memory

Nymphaea ‘Detective Erika’

WHY

IT MATTERS

Displaying collections for education and enjoyment plays a major role in the Garden’s mission of connecting people with plants.

certainly will. Never before displayed in the United States, ‘Sunspark’ stole hearts with its prolific, cheerful, peach blooms with bright yellow centers. A new group for the Garden, the super-tropical Australian hybrids were added as a trial. Unusual in the fact that they do not bloom until late in the season, waiting on the water to warm up enough, these voracious eaters sustained the entire display past the first frost.

Now, for the first time since 2015, a large aquatic display is planned for the Skyline Garden pool in spring 2024. This 60-foot-diameter pool is the largest in the Garden – which will mean even more plants!

Creating a tropical, aquatic oasis in the middle of Skyline Garden will begin with a foundation of marginal plants like elephant ears,

ruellia, golden club and mosaic plant. Amazon lilies, Victoria sp., which generally grow too large for the Garden’s other pools, will have no trouble spreading out their 3-foot-wide and larger pads there. At least a dozen lotuses will dazzle in shades of yellow, peach, pink and red. And tropical water lilies will weave together to make this pool a botanically interesting display and wow-worthy garden.

AMANDA BENNETT is the Garden’s Vice President, Horticulture & Collections

JIM SMITH is Senior Outdoor Horticulture Manager.

Nymphaea ‘Fragrance & Fortune’

Nymphaea ‘Ultra Violet’

Nymphaea ‘Sunspark’

test Put to the

By JIM SMITH

New evaluation program proves critical in enhancing rose collection

But a new rose evaluation program is helping horticulturists determine exactly which roses are making the cut and which are ready for the retirement home.

WHY IT MATTERS

The work began in 2020 while the Garden was closed during the pandemic, allowing staff the opportunity to pull away from heavy maintenance and turn their attention to dreaming up what an evaluation system might entail. Six key factors stood out as criteria that should be tracked – disease resistance, insect resistance, vigor, bloom number, plant form and fragrance.

Guests regularly ask which of the Garden’s roses perform best, and until recently the staff could only offer their opinions about which plants seemed to be the current standouts.

Developing and maintaining plant collections is key in connecting people with nature.

Taylor Polomsky, left, and Shakim Cooper of the horticulture staff record plant evaluation data in the Rose Garden.

Since then, the team has encountered plenty of unexpected hurdles. On the surface, such a program seems straightforward, but a deep dive shows the complexity of evaluations: Should a plant be evaluated every month of the year? Or should consideration be given that every plant looks bad in the coldest months? Or that most roses are cut back in February, making them all look nearly the same? Or that even the fact that in May every single rose is a 10? Ultimately, the staff decided to conduct its yearly evaluations from June through December. And finally, how will all the data collected be used –and is the work worth the time required?

The answers are complicated. Horticulturists originally sought the information to steer them with unbiased decision making in determining if plants are performing to standards in the Rose Garden, a highly visible and often rented garden event space. But the process has opened their eyes to so many other aspects of roses that they didn’t anticipate. They realized that a rose should not be condemned based on a single year’s evaluation because maybe another shrub was shading it out. They also learned that species roses are likely to score low on fragrance because that species isn’t fragrant.

The evaluation program already has proven its worth with reducing critical diseases. such as the rose rosette virus, thanks to the staff’s constant monitoring of every plant monthly. In the future, the program will be key in strategizing and developing an updated curatorial plan for the Rose Garden and enhancing that space as an established part of the Garden’s collections.

2021 Top Rose Performers

First: Rosa ‘GRAppl’

Brindabella Roses™ Purple Prince

Introduced in Australia 2014 by Brindabella Country Gardens Nursery and in 2018 in the United States by Sun-Fire Nurseries.

Second: Rosa ‘Ducher’

Introduced in 1869 in Lyon, France by Jean-Claude Ducher.

JIM SMITH is the Garden’s Senior Outdoor Horticulture Manager.

Rosa ‘GRAppl’

Rosa ‘Ducher’

From the Plant Exporer’s journal:

danger DODGING

Trekking across Vietnam’s perilous mountain range yields diverse bounty of plants

By SCOTT McMAHAN

The picturesque limestone ridges in the northeastern part have been the backdrop for dozens of our trekking adventures over the years.

Yet, there is still one area there that has remained largely unexplored. Ngu Chi Son – known as the Five Fingers Mountain range – can be seen from the road from miles away and looks easy enough to hike up and over, at least from a distance. But it has proven to be one of the most dangerous treks around.

I had made two serious efforts previously to get into the back country of this temperate mountain range – the first in 2010 when a boulder crushed the top of my foot, causing us to limit our time in the jungle during that outing. Then in 2013, our party of seven became lost for two days, turning our three-day trek into nearly six during which we ran out of both food and drinkable water. Just one week after we came off the trail that year a Scottish botanist fell to his death while hiking alone in those mountains. Two years later, locals found his remains in the jungle.

Last year, while planning the trip, our group had arranged to spend a couple nights exploring Five Fingers. Finally, the time had come, and we were all standing around nervously watching the porters load their baskets before starting our hike up into the fog.

Northern Vietnam is a place I am pretty familiar with as I have been traveling there to study plants since 2007.

WHY IT MATTERS

Collecting, evaluating, preserving and disseminating seed from other parts of the world is key to the conservation of plants everywhere.

Oreocharis

(potentially Gesneriad)hardy

Sunset in Vietnam

Arisaemarhizomatum

TimonMarchlik a bamboo ladder TimCo-workerMarchlik on a bamboo Co-worker

It was overcast when we began hiking out of the village, for which we were all thankful. The first hour or so was a straight-up slog just to get out of the agricultural area and to the edge of the jungle. Then, as if we had crossed some invisible threshold, we began seeing encouraging plant diversity.

One of the first plants that piqued our interest was a beautiful, newly described species of Oreocharis (Gesneriaceae) that was still flowering nicely. Gesneriads are being discovered in many areas of temperate Asia. With these new, higher-elevation discoveries comes the hope of improved cold hardiness and overall garden worthiness for us in hardiness Zone 7. They were high on our target list, and this was only one of four genera in this family that we collected on this trip; others included Raphiocarpus, Hemiboea and Lysionotus. In all, we were able to make about 250 seed collections, all of which have been sown and are germinating nicely in the greenhouses at the Gainesville Garden for future evaluation.

As we continued, we climbed ladders made of bamboo and crossed bridges constructed of fallen branches until we began our final push to the ridge. Along the way we could see the yellowing foliage of the waist-high Maianthemum beginning to go dormant as well as a museum-quality specimen of Arisaema rhizomatum in full, pristine bloom just at the top of the pass.

Luck was with us on this trip, and when we reached the top we could see only blue sky and layers of tree-covered mountains in front of us. We all spent the night in a small shelter, sleeping side by side in our sleeping bags nearly in a dog-pile fashion for warmth. When we awoke the next morning, we were treated to a brilliant sunrise rivaled only by the sunset we had experienced the previous evening.

As we hiked out of camp early that morning with the sun on our backs, I remember feeling like we had been rewarded for our previous hardships on that mountain. Ngu Chi Son was kind to us this time around.

We’ll see what happens next time.

SCOTT McMAHAN is the Garden’s Manager of International Plant Exploration.

Tracking populations

Computer model leads staff to discover threatened terrestrial orchids in South Carolina

By LOY XINGWEN

Imagine trying to herd a flock of invisible sheep. How would one know where to find the sheep or how many are accounted for?

These are challenges faced by conservationists seeking to protect the threatened small whorled pogonia, Isotria medeoloides, a native terrestrial orchid that can hide in plain sight.

But Garden scientists have devised ways to track this elusive plant – methods that even recently helped them discover a previously undocumented population.

Small whorled pogonia is extremely difficult to find for several reasons. For starters, it is hard to distinguish from the common cucumber root, Medeola, its botanical Latin namesake. The orchid’s small size and muted colors help it blend into the vast forest floor. Even when its precise location is known, the plant can sometimes lie dormant for years underground, where it would be invisible until it emerges again.

Over the past decade, Garden staff have devised simple but effective solutions for tracking this enigmatic orchid. For example, metal number tags are inserted into the ground to mark the location of each plant. This ensures that all individuals, dormant or otherwise, are accounted for during population censuses.

In 2020, the Garden was tasked by the USDA Forest Service to help with conserving this orchid in South Carolina. In addition to conducting a census on all known populations, staff were challenged to find potentially undiscovered populations across the state.

To that end, Garden biologists developed a species distribution model. This computer model considers the environment where a species is known to occur, then predicts new locations where the species could be present. Guided by this model, staff managed to home in on a small population of small whorled pogonia in Sumter National Forest, the latest addition to the state’s record of known populations of this species.

Knowing where small whorled pogonia grows and how many are left in the wild allows conservationists to plan conservation actions. Moving forward, the Garden will be helping to research best ways to manage this species’ habitat to help ensure its future in the wild.

LOY XINGWEN, PhD, is a Garden Research Scientist, Ecology.

WHY IT MATTERS

Monitoring habitats of threatened plants is critical to conserving populations.

The small whorled pogonia’s small size and muted colors help blend it into the vast forest floor.

A metal number tag marks the location of plants to ensure all are accounted for even when dormant.

Eureka!

Professional networking helps grow plant collections – sometimes literally

By DAVID RULAND

Botanical gardens embrace many means for developing and enhancing their plant collections, with carefully nurtured relationships with other gardens and industry colleagues key.

Yet sometimes acquiring that sought-after specimen is simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

Such was the case last summer when Garden staff attended a plant society convention in Tacoma, Wash. While re-acquainting with old friends and making new connections, a colleague mentioned the need for a rare plant, that seemingly was lost in cultivation. With great delight, a Garden staffer quickly informed the plant researcher that Atlanta possessed the particular plant in its collections, having obtained it years ago from another botanical garden. The two quickly exchanged plant information and photos, and the Garden soon plans to share the coveted plant material with the researcher.

“Eureka” moments like that are rare but prove that networking is crucial among public gardens as they strive to enhance their signature collections. In developing them, much consideration is given to a species’ display potential, rarity, relevance to garden direction and even cold hardiness in a particular climate. Hybrids also are considered, especially if they are hardy, possess noteworthy aesthetic appeal and/or are of historical significance.

Take the Garden’s Gesneriad and Begonia collections, for example. While obviously very different plant families, there are parallels between the two that illustrate the Garden’s collection objectives. The two families are held in high regard by staff and visitors alike. They have tremendous ornamental value, are relatively similar in their horticultural needs and, barring a few

exceptions, easy to propagate and maintain. All of these qualities are important to consider when formulating collection plans for current and future acquisitions.

Last year provided several opportunities for staff development and networking opportunities regarding these plant groups. Plant society conferences are highly productive for discussing horticultural approaches, brainstorming challenges, troubleshooting problem plants and simply gaining insight from more experienced growers and experts in a plant group. An American Begonia Society conference in Atlanta proved a tremendous opportunity for the Garden to host tours and highlight its collections. And an invitation to staff to visit the Fort Worth Botanical Garden yielded a great learning opportunity by observing how staff and volunteers there keep their collections thriving.

Networking always has positive benefits, giving staff the opportunity to learn, sometimes to obtain and share plant material, and even sometimes use plant collections to assist in research or conservation initiatives. The professional collaboration serves as a reminder of the value of botanical gardens and the living collections they maintain.

DAVID RULAND is the Garden’s Greenhouse Manager.

WHY IT MATTERS Collaboration with industry colleagues promotes enhanced plant collections and conservation of endangered species.

Columnea minor (Gesneriad)

Begonia bipinnatifida

Welcome, newcomers

Garden horticulturists help narrow barriers for immigrant students

By MILDRED FOCKELE

Alex Sanic loves working with plants and observing how they change with the seasons. From a quiet spot in the Gainesville Garden, he records that information in a personal journal and even draws pictures to illustrate those changes, such as a witch hazel that has come into bloom on a cold January day.

For the immigrant student, that simple learning activity can be a peaceful alternative to a previous life in another country, which is one of the goals of a new program known as Newcomer Academy.

Horticulturists at the Gainesville Garden are participating in the cooperative project with the Hall County School District’s immersive program for high school-aged immigrant students, located at Ivester Early College’s Jones Learning Center. In its inaugural year, the academy’s goal is to get students up to speed in their studies, including the science of horticulture and improving their English speaking skills. During the two-semester pilot program in language arts and science, the students spend part of their day at the Jones Center and part in regular high school classrooms.

Science/Horticulture instructor Michelle Conable is working with the Garden’s horticulture team to create learning-based work opportunities for the students, about 12 of whom visit the Garden every two weeks. The students love leaving the classroom behind to visit the Garden, she said, because it offers different and direct learning opportunities that they might not have experienced in their home country.

During their first visit, the students cleaned the seeds of Plum Yew (Cephalotaxus), a conifer that produces fleshy seeds. Each seed requires its fleshy covering be removed, then the seeds are rinsed and dried, and appropriately packed for storage. In doing so, the students had the opportunity to learn about plant classification (conifers vs. higher flowering plants), seed distribution in nature, different types of conifer seed and how botanical gardens share plants via seed.

Students have assisted with other projects in the Children’s Garden – providing the chance for them to learn about pollinators, seed germination, soil preparation, plant life cycles and soil fertility.

They also have helped with the seasonal change-out of container gardens at downtown’s Gainesville Renaissance, a cooperative project among the Garden, Brenau University and the City of Gainesville. The Newcomers will take this newfound knowledge about container gardening and plant and maintain containers as part of a service learning project at several schools and nursing homes near their campus.

In addition, for maintaining their journals about the Garden, each Newcomer has selected a favorite spot in the display garden that they observe monthly. They record changes to the garden and its plants in drawings and notes, and then discuss their findings with the others. This activity has helped improve their observational skills and made them more in tune with the “why” behind the seasonality of garden plants.

“Working with these students is so enjoyable,” said Senior Horticulturist Kendall Busher. “We get to share our horticultural knowledge with them as well as help them practice their English while they work. It really is fun for all of us!”

MILDRED FOCKELE is the Gainesville Garden Director.

Horticulturist Kendall Busher, right, leads a container gardening project.

WHY IT MATTERS

Community

A group of immigrant students experiments with plant combinations for containers in downtown Gainesville.

outreach is a key component in the Garden’s mission of connecting people with plants.

Under the spotlight

Mini-documentaries highlight endangered plants, efforts to save them

By JASON LIGON and CARRIE RADCLIFFE

Jason Ligon, the Garden’s Micropropagation and Seed Bank Coordinator (second from left), directs the videotaping of a short documentary.

That’s why the Garden’s Conservation & Research team has helped create three short documentaries each highlighting a plant species listed under the Endangered Species Act. The five-minute videos explore the plant’s habitat and what’s being done to prevent its extinction.

WHY IT MATTERS

The Southeast is home to many federally listed plants, so choosing which ones to feature was up for debate. The Garden, on behalf of the Southeastern Plant Conservation Alliance, facilitated planning with Endangered Species Act Recovery leads from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to develop a list of species in need of collaboration for meeting recovery goals or preventing local eradication from the wild.

From that list, three species were chosen to be featured in the professionally produced videos:

• Puerto Rico manjack, Varronia rupicola

Caribbean coastal dry limestone forest habitat.

• Sand flax, Linum arenicola

South Florida remnant prairie and pine rockland habitat.

• Telephus spurge, Euphorbia telephioides

Florida Panhandle coastal flatwood habitat.

Garden staff then traveled to Vieques, Puerto Rico, to visit wild and cultivated populations of Varronia rupicola with local plant experts, work with local videographer Jimmy Diaz and interview members of federal, state and non-profit organizations conducting efforts to conserve this species. The team later visited the Florida Panhandle and Miami to shoot footage for the other species’ videos.

The alliance and the Fish & Wildlife Service will distribute the documentaries to promote public awareness and appreciation of each species’ threats and proposed solutions.

TikTok and Youtube are all the rage these days as popular platforms for brief videos sharing entertaining and impactful information – even in the field of plant conservation.

Public awareness of threats to endangered plants is key to successful conservation efforts.

JASON LIGON is the Garden’s Micropropagation and Seed Bank Coordinator

CARRIE RADCLIFFE is Conservation Partnerships Manager

Puerto Rico manjack seedling

Puerto Rico manjack fruit harvested in a greenhouse

Life under glass

New exhibits help tell the Garden’s story of protecting both frogs and plants

By CHELSEA THOMAS

First-time guests often are pleasantly surprised to stumble upon the Garden’s exhibits of frogs inside the Fuqua Conservatory. Squeals from kids excited to spot the colorful poison dart frogs and other species commonly reverberate throughout the lobby where the glass enclosures are displayed.

Since the 1990s, the Garden’s Amphibian Program has been using these public vivarium displays to teach visitors how plants and frogs are interconnected and thus need to be protected together. The exhibits focus on education, conservation and the relationship between animals and plants by offering guests previews of the types of environments they’ll see in the Garden during their visit.

This year, the exhibits underwent a muchneeded and much-anticipated redo with four new permanent displays, designed and custom built by a specialty vendor with significant input from staff.

The tanks were designed with state-of-the-art lighting, mist and cool fog capabilities, and new hardscaping and water features. Smart technology offers more precise programming of the lighting systems, allowing spectrums to be adjusted throughout the day.

The new displays offer guests a preview of the types of environments they’ll see throughout the Garden:

The Colombia exhibit teaches visitors the importance of buying plants and animals from ethical sources, and offers a slice-oflife from the forest floor up to tank viewing

WHY IT MATTERS

height to emphasize details guests might not notice as they tour the Tropical Rotunda. Harlequin poison frogs hop among Colombian plants like the hairy-stemmed Philodendron serpens; they will likely hide in the large Guzmania bromeliads, teaching visitors how to look for the Coqui frogs out in the Rotunda.

The Ecuador exhibit showcases frogs that live in the tree canopy as well as miniature orchids like those in the Orchid Center’s High Elevation House and other epiphytes growing in the Orchid Display House.

The Panama exhibit tells the story of the Garden’s success in helping protect genetically distinct populations of Panamanian frogs that would otherwise have been lost to Chytrid fungus. It also previews riparian plants like Anthurium amnicola and features a miniature waterfall, not unlike the area where the Phantasmal poison frogs live in the Rotunda.

The Madagascar exhibit showcases a very different habitat than the arid environment found in the Conservatory’s Desert House, even though both represent endemic plants

and animals of Madagascar. The new exhibit contains leaf-mimic chameleons as well as tiny Mantella frogs, teaching lessons about reptiles vs amphibians.

CHELSEA THOMAS is the Garden’s Amphibian Program Coordinator.

Displays are key in educating guests about the delicate balance of ecosystems and how plants and animals interact.

A resident frog shows off its colors on a branch in a tank

A guest enjoys the newly installed displays in the Conservatory lobby.

Filling the

gaps

Analysis shows nearly 100 threatened Magnolia species absent from world’s collections

By JEAN LINSKY and EMILY COFFEY

Magnolias are popular ornamentals, sources of medicine and timber, and provide food and habitats for animals around the world. But more than half of the approximately 330 species of Magnolia are considered threatened in the wild, facing habitat conversion, climate change, extraction and the biological impacts of severely reduced population sizes.

A recent analysis, developed by an international partnership led by the Garden’s Southeastern Center for Conservation, found that half of the species are represented in botanical collections but that as many as 98 threatened species are completely absent from any collections worldwide.

Those are among the findings of the 2022 Global Conservation Gap Analysis of Magnolia, published by the Global Conservation Consortium for Magnolia, an initiative developed among the Garden and its partners to address the threats and ensure that no wild Magnolia species go extinct.

Magnolia zenii

The Gap Analysis identifies “gaps” in the conservation of Magnolias that need improvement. The publication includes details about collections of Magnolia species in botanical gardens and actions that are taking place to conserve them around the world. It marks the first time that hundreds of gardens contributed data and collaborated to produce such detailed analysis for Magnolias, providing foundational data to prioritize and take action for the world’s threatened Magnolia species.

Of the 50 percent of Magnolia species reported to be in botanical collections, some are represented in hundreds of institutions, such as Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), while others are represented in only one garden. Collaboration will be vital to ensure species are secure in multiple collections.

The analysis also identified parts of the geographical range of threatened species that are under-represented in global conservation

WHY IT MATTERS

The Southeastern United States – a biodiversity hotspot rich in unique habitats and plants – is at increased risk of loss because of anthropogenic influences and climate change. Yet, a recent survey shows the region is faring better than others in plant conservation efforts.

The Southeast is home to more than 11,000 native plant species, one-third of which are endemic. Of the 65 plants that have vanished in North America since European settlement, nearly 40 percent are native to the Southeast.

As threats to wild plant populations increase, ex situ conservation is often of vital importance for long-term species survival. Ex situ plant conservation is the maintenance of living material outside a species’ natural habitat, in the form of whole plants, seeds, pollen, tissues and other viable germplasm.

The Southeastern Plant Conservation Alliance, in partnership with the Garden, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, U.S. and NatureServe, recently conducted an ex situ collections survey. The results offer an assessment of the current ex situ representation –and gaps – of Southeastern plants of greatest conservation need.

collections. Maps are included for select species to guide field work and collaboration to ensure the full range of diversity of Magnolia is conserved.

Information from the published analysis is expected to guide international Magnolia conservation actions for years to come.

EMILY COFFEY, PhD,

Vice President, Conservation & Research

The survey found exceptional progress made for ex situ collections of Southeastern plants, which compares favorably to that of other regional ex situ analyses and demonstrates the value of such collections at institutions such as the Garden. The gap analysis findings will guide conservation efforts, including securing rare plants of the Southeast in seed banks and cultivated living collections, and implementing recovery and restoration programs that return ex situ material to the wild.

Collaboration through nonprofit and governmental partnerships promotes success in conserving threatened species of plants.

JEAN LINSKY is the Garden’s Magnolia Consortium Coordinator

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Despite losses, Southeast makes progress in plant conservation

Magnolia grandiflora

Balancing act

Conservation biological control promotes natural pest management for ecological harmony

By PAUL BLACKMORE and MAX KOTELNICKI

At first glance, the Garden’s carnivorous pitcher plant bog is a breathtaking display of more than 250 species of native plants. But a closer look shows something bigger going on when it comes to creating a healthy balance among plants and pests in this manmade ecosystem.

The bog, as the hub of the Conservation Display Garden, has become a lab where horticulturists are experimenting with a shift in pest management to include conservation biological control, a concept that emphasizes observation and action. This sustainable approach seeks to integrate beneficial insects back into the environment to promote natural pest control and ecological harmony.

To strengthen the web of natural predators, it’s important to provide accommodations yearround with nesting and an overwintering habitat. Access to woody plants provides protection for beneficial insects as crevices in tree bark and pockets beneath leaf litter offer shelter to them throughout the seasons. Ripening seed heads left

Sarracenia unfurl their colors and patterns in the Conservation Display Garden.

standing attract an abundance of granivores, or animals that rely on seeds. Slightly taller cutback stems allow dried material to house insects and microorganisms through winter.

In addition to its Sarracenia spp. and other native plants, the Conservation Display Garden includes a diversity of wildlife that depend on native flora. Take for example the relationship between the pitcher plant parasite, the exyra moth, and the green lynx spider. Pitcher plants have modified leaves containing fluid to aid in the capture and digestion of prey. The exyra moth has evolved to live within the pitchers, eating the epithelium of the leaf and causing it to collapse and protect young from the cold and predators. The opportunistic lynx spider is attracted to the breadth of species that visit pitcher plants and rob the plant of its meal. In doing so, lynx spiders play a role in controlling outbreak populations of the exyra moth, in turn preventing destruction of pitcher plant populations.

Home gardeners can embrace conservation biological control by avoiding pesticides and observing the biodiversity that responds and by

WHY IT MATTERS

incorporating native plants that appeal to and nourish various species. Mountain mints (Pycnanthemum sp.) are ecological powerhouses, providing the essentials for butterflies, beetles, parasitic wasps and many other insects. These advantageous insects provide season-long services to the garden, keeping so-called pests in check while promoting pollination throughout the landscape.

Encouraging garden relationships to unfold helps strengthen a landscape’s vitality and sustainability, simply by working with nature’s proclivity for effective nutritional diversity.

MAX KOTELNICKI is Conservation Display Garden Horticulturist

Habitat management is a critical tool in protecting and restoring populations of imperiled plants.

PAUL BLACKMORE is the Conservatory & Conservation Display Garden Manager

A mother green lynx spider sits on her egg sac to protect it from intruders.

The core of the Conservation Display Garden is a pitcher plant bog of more than 250 species of plants.

PLANT CLOSEUP

Slipper Orchids

ORIGINS, CLASSIFICATION: Cypripedium is one of five genera, or plant groups, within the orchid subfamily Cypripedioideae, all of which are known as Slipper Orchids. Members of the Cypripedium genus are found throughout temperate and subtropical regions across the Northern Hemisphere, with a few species found as far north as Alaska and Russia and as far south as Myanmar and Honduras. Among the other four genera, Paphiopedilums are only found in Asia, while Mexipedium, Phragmipedium and Selenipedium are distributed across Central and South America.

NOTEWORTHY: Slipper Orchids are prized around the world for the astounding beauty of their inflorescences, which can have one to 12 blooms depending on the species. Their unique pollination mechanism is equally as fascinating. Pollinators, usually bees, are enticed into the slipper-shaped petal, where the curved and slick lip allows entry but no exit. The bee is then guided by interior hairs toward the back of the flower, where it must bypass the reproductive parts of the flower to access the exit and therefore inadvertently pollinate the flower.

SIZE: Many average around one foot in height, although some species can reach more than two feet when in full bloom.

USES: While they are most frequently sought after for their high ornamental value by enthusiasts and novices alike, some species also have a history in traditional medicine.

CARE: In the wild, members of the Cypripedium genus are generally found in open woodlands with rich, organic soil and plenty of moisture. In cultivation, they need regular watering, and while morning sun is good, they otherwise prefer bright shade under tall trees.

PROPAGATION: Seed germination is difficult and often dependent upon being paired with a fungal partner that aids in seedling development, so rhizome divisions are preferred.

PROBLEMS: Generally difficult to cultivate because of their specific growing requirements. Many species are endangered and facing extinction from increasing habitat loss and widespread poaching.

BLOOM TIME: Spring.

Lady Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium)

MICHAEL DEL VALLE is an Outdoor Horticulture Manager at the Garden

The mission of the Atlanta Botanical Garden is to develop and maintain plant collections for display, education, research, conservation and enjoyment.

Black Bat Flower, Tacca chantrieri