Marie Selby Botanical Gardens has been the recipient of the prestigious Program Excellence Award given by the American Public Gardens Association (APGA) for a four-year partnership entitled “Air Plants and Other Epiphytes of Belize: A Collaborative Project Between Two Botanical Gardens and a University.”

The Program Excellence Award is presented to an APGA member who has shown an innovative spirit in the development of an original program and has pioneered in disciplines that are important to horticultural institutions, including education, conservation, development, botany, gardening, horticulture, research, extension or administration. Selby Gardens was presented with this honor for its successful partnership with Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch Botanical Garden and the University of Belize-Environmental Research Institute, to promote in Belize the study, conservation and display of epiphytes.

Through work with these botanical organizations in Belize, about 860 accessions, or plant materials, were collected for Selby Gardens and Caves Branch living collections. More than 2,000 mounted specimens were added to Herbarium collections at both Selby Gardens and Belize National Herbarium.

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens