Orchids are the largest family of plants in the world with more than 30,000 species and are considered a flagship species for conservation throughout the world.
Representatives from the local garden club presented those checks this past week. They also raised money, awarding one $1,000 grant to SCH environmental science teacher Lisa Queeno, and another $1,000 for Zale at Longwood Gardens. When members of WGC’s conservation committee learned about Longwood’s work to reintroduce the orchid locally, they teamed up with Zale to help. This discovery prompted active interest in the orchid’s conservation and repopulation of the plant in the Wissahickon. In 2019, when the Pink Lady’s Slipper was thought to have disappeared from the Wissahickon, citizen scientists discovered three flowering plants at an undisclosed location in the park. This initiative is the result of a partnership that started more than three years ago between the Wissahickon Garden Club (WGC), Longwood Gardens, and the school. Then, after a deep classroom dive into the importance of the orchid species, how they are endangered in the Wissahickon, and why they are being reintroduced locally, students took to the woods adjacent to the McCausland Lower School and gave the seedlings a new home.
Peter Zale, Director of Conservation, Plant Breeding and Collections at Longwood Gardens. Last week, 15 Ziploc bags containing delicate, spindly Pink Lady’s Slipper orchid seedlings made their way from the Longwood Gardens greenhouses to Springside Chestnut Hill Academy’s environmental science class, carried in a nondescript bin by Dr.
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