Feb Meeting Schedule

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC at Olbrich Botanical Garden

Schedule is Approximate as Follows:

• 12:00 pm Doors Open
• 12:30 Socializing During Plant Judging
• 1:00 Meeting Begins; Announcements
• 1:15 pm Show & Tell Table 
• 2:00 Break
• 2:15 pm Guest Speaker & Book Signing
• 3:15 pm Door Prizes
• 3:30 pm Meeting Ends

Dr. Larry Zettler  has been on the faculty of Illinois College since 2007 where he has trained hundreds of undergraduates to propagate native orchids from seed.  He says, "I am very concerned that not enough is being done to conserve the world’s biological diversity in a warming world. Among plants, orchids are especially vulnerable to extinction. I attempt to conserve rare orchids by studying their mycorrhizal fungi, and how these fungi can be used to propagate endangered species from seed (e.g., symbiotic germination). I enlist the help of students for this purpose, providing them with the tools necessary to conserve these plants long after I am gone."

His latest book, "Saving Orchids" is "a gorgeously illustrated ode to the beauty and significance of orchids—and to those fighting to save these unique plants across the globe. Until recently, a myriad of lifeforms enriched our lives. In some places, listening to a nighttime chorus of frogs in the neighborhood marsh was an archetypal touchstone of childhood. Children would search for tadpoles, just steps away from native Lady’s Tresses orchids. Year by year, the chorus became quieter. Today, only a few frogs and orchids remain. Is this the world we want our children to inherit? Do we want orchids to slip through our fingers and, eventually, to vanish? For biologists Philip Seaton and Lawrence W. Zettler, and the intrepid orchid defenders they introduce in this book, the answer is no. Seaton and Zettler have traveled the world over the past three decades, studying orchids—flagship species for plant conservation. Stunningly illustrated, this book is a culmination of stories about the people—young and old alike—dedicated to protecting these remarkable plants from extinction. In the 19th century, collectors removed, shipped, and sold vast numbers of orchids from the wild. Today, scientists strive to reverse this harm—to protect and rebuild remnants of orchids’ original habitats against human disruption, including climate change. Seaton and Zettler reveal these plants’ bizarre pollination partners, risky liaisons with fungi, and adaptation to human domestication to show that learning orchids’ scientific secrets—and finding human helpers—is key to these plants’ survival."