The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), with its 16 plant conservation targets was originally adopted by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2002. It was updated and revised in 2010, with targets set to be achieved...

A standardized monitoring protocol is presented in this document to allow agency staff, land managers, farmers, and others to evaluate the performance of individual pollinator habitat plantings. 

The purpose of this document is to establish the Living Collections goals and ensure their efficient, effective, and consistent organization and implementation. It is the context for: collections description and intent documentation; collections...

Plant exploration provides the horticulture industry, public gardens, the scientific community, arboreta - and ultimately the public - with more diverse and hardier germplasm that increases the breadth of plants available for research and landscape use...

The Living Collections of the USNA conserve plants and encourage their use for research, discovery, and education. The Living Collections also serve as an integral part of the collective botanical heritage of the public garden community. As a unique...

The Cultivated Herbarium of the Arnold Arboretum, in Jamaica Plain, MA, is a component of the Herbarium of the Arnold Arboretum (A), one of the units within the Harvard University Herbaria in Cambridge, MA. The cultivated herbarium only holds those...

Being a plant collector for the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is a wonderful opportunity and privilege. Not only are collectors expected to engage in their activities in a professional manner, but they must meet the high Arboretum standards...

Recognition of the importance of biodiversity for global food security and the community food sustainability movement has helped increase awareness of seed rights. International treaties created to ensure the world’s access to seed biodiversity address...

Selecting the geographic origin—the provenance—of seed is a key decision in restoration. The last decade has seen a vigorous debate on whether to use local or nonlocal seed. The use of local seed has been the preferred approach because it is expected...

Living collections at public gardens are increasingly at risk of pest infestations and pathogen infections. This session will describe front line strategies to mitigate these risks utilizing clean nursery stock, micropropagation and cryopreservation...

The Standards of Excellence in Plant Collections Management developed by the Plant...

 A companion Self-Assessment Tool is now available to help you evaluate your organization’s current level of collections management. Use the results along with the...

BBG intends to guide, limit and manage their plant collections through the implementation of procedures described within this document. It is intended to be a working document and is subject to periodic review and revision by the BBG coordinating...

The Plants for Planting Manual provides the background, procedures, and reference tables for regulating imported material of plants and vegetative parts that are for or capable of propagation, including buds, bulbs, corms, cuttings, layers, pollen,...

Public gardens can benefit from the introduction of new plants to the horticulture industry. There are many ways to develop and discover new plants in the public garden setting, whether it be through plant breeding, exploration or simply discovering a...

The Florida torreya is North America’s most endangered conifer, with less than one percent of its population remaining. Now, scientists are mounting a last-ditch effort to save the torreya and are considering using new gene-editing technologies to...

Sally Aitken is a Professor and Associate Dean, Research and Innovation, in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia, and Director of the Centre for Forest Conservation Genetics. Sally obtained her PhD from the University of...

Restoration projects that support pollinators are becoming increasingly popular. Pollinating insects require resources, including nectar and pollen, throughout the growing season. However, commercially available seed mixes vary considerably in their...

Native plant communities are key to ecosystem health, resiliency, and productivity. Since its creation, the Forest Service has been using native plants in reforestation, rangeland improvement, watershed restoration, wildlife enhancement, mine...

Recent estimates indicate that one-fifth of botanical species worldwide are considered at risk of becoming extinct in the wild. One available strategy for conserving many rare plant species is reintroduction, which holds much promise especially when...