Current Events
Mark Richardson
Executive Director, US branch of Botanic Gardens Conservation International and Ecological Landscape Alliance, in addition to Director of Strategic Horticulture Partnerships for New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, Boylston, MA
"An Introduction to Botanic Gardens Conservation International and the Ecological Landscape Alliance"
Abstract: In 2024, New England Botanic Garden forged a partnership with two like-minded nonprofit organizations that share NEBG's vision of a world where people and plants thrive. The Ecological Landscape Alliance is a membership organization that provides high quality educational programming for landscape professionals. Botanic Gardens Conservation International US is the North American branch of BGCI, a UK-based charitable organization that mobilizes botanic gardens and partners to secure plant diversity. Mark Richardson serves as executive director for each organization, providing the strategic direction and leadership to ensure ELA and BGCI-US continue to thrive.
Mark your calendar for the next NEBS Meeting on Friday, June 27th, 2025 in person only.
Presentation starts at 1 pm. Field trip starts at 3:45 pm.
Held at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, 11 French Drive, Boylston, MA
Includes Garden Entrance and Field Trip. Registration Required!
Plant Migration in a Changing Climate – October 2025 Conference
This fall, NEBS, along with Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, will be hosting a conference, Plant Migration in a Changing Climate. The conference will be held October 3-4, 2025 at The Gardens in Boothbay, ME. Visit our Events Tab for more details and to register.
Congratulations to the 2025 Junior Faculty Award Winner

Dr. Chloe Pak Drummond
Dr. Chloe Pak Drummond, Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, for project "Population history, genetic diversity, and future persistence of Large-leaved Sandwort, Moehringia macrophylla (Hook.) Fenzl (Caryophyllaceae), a rare New England plant."
To read more...
Congratulations to our 2025 Graduate Student Research Award Winners

Jason Leung

Caroline Witherspoon
Jason Leung of Columbia University for project "Sequencing 19th century herbarium specimens to understand the loss of genetic diversity in a regionally extinct beach plant, Amaranthus pumilus Raf., or seabeach amaranth"
Caroline Witherspoon of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry for project "Usnea subfloridana as a model for understanding the drivers of the distribution and ecology of imperiled Usnea lichens in the northeastern United States"
To read more...
Congratulations to the 2025 Les Mehrhoff Botanical Research Award Winners

Ujjal Banik

Eric Hagen
Michael Lew-Smith

Alex Karasoulos

Emmi Kurosawa
Catherine Wessel
& Will Durkin
Ujjal Banik for project "Morphology and eco-physiological study of green macroalgae Ulva"
Eric Hagen and Michael Lew-Smith for project "Finding Floerkea: Using herbarium specimens and biogeographic modeling to search for new populations of the recently rediscovered Floerkea proserpinacoides in Vermont"
Alex Karasoulos for project "Targeted surveys for rare vascular plants in the brackish marshes of Massachusetts"
Emmi Kurosawa for project "A survey for 15 introduced populations of critically endangered Aldrovanda vesiculosa in New England, and characterization of ecological requirements for successful cultivation"
Catherine Wessel and Will Durkin for project "Targeted surveys for Agalinis neoscotica: Historic and rare populations in coastal Maine"
To read more...