This year, 750 national and international garden professionals attended the American Public Gardens Association national conference held in Phoenix, Arizona. This conference gave attendees the opportunity to network and develop garden collaborations and also to learn from colleagues in the field through a series of sessions.

Montgomery Outreach Manager Tracy Magellan presented a poster titled, “Sometimes you want to avoid natural selection: Can pounds of coffee grounds end your pest problems?” on the effectiveness of using spent coffee grounds to control Cycad Aulacaspis Scale.

Executive Director M. Patrick Griffith of Montgomery Botanical Center gave a presentation titled,“Underground Plants Help Conservation on the Surface” where he discussed fieldwork and research in Belize funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the International Union for Conservation of Nature—Save Our Species Grant (IUCN—SOS), and the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund. Dr. Griffith also moderated a panel discussion on “Plant Conservation in Arid Lands: International Collaborations.”

Patrick was awarded the APGA’s Professional Citation Award, a prestigious award given once a year. Since joining MBC in 2005, Patrick has encouraged and developed the research, conservation, and authorship work of our team, helping Montgomery to make a unique contribution to this field. The staff at Montgomery Botanical Center would like you to join us in celebrating Dr. Patrick Griffith for all the good work he has done.

Montgomery Botanical Center is a member of the American Public Gardens Association (APGA) and holds the APGA North American Plant Collections Consortium (NAPCC) national collections of palms and cycads. MBC staff travel to the conference was supported by a Museums for America Grant from IMLS and by a generous donation from Charles and Dorothy Sacher.