Did you know that more than 20% of plant species are in danger of extinction?
According to the Botanic Gardens Conservation Index, many of the world’s amazing diversity of plants are threatened or endangered. Public gardens – like London Town – work to ensure endangered and threatened plants survive by using “ex situ conservation.”
What is ex situ conservation? It literally means “off-site conservation.” In other words, London Town protects plants by growing them here, outside of their natural habitat. This makes sure that the plants will continue to survive, even if their habitat is threatened or destroyed. We are also expanding our propagation efforts and saving more seeds.
But here’s the cool thing – ex situ conservation isn’t limited to London Town. You can grow rare, endangered and threatened plants in your own garden too!
We’re making sure to share a number of these plants and seeds at our Plant Sale on Saturday, September 26, 9am – 2pm. It’s free to check out! Plus all proceeds support our gardens. Learn more at www.historiclondontown.org/plantsale.
Curious if a plant is threatened or endangered? You can look up the name of any plant (or animal) here to see if they are on the list: https://www.iucnredlist.org/
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