What's For Dinner?

Plant conservation should concern everyone who eats. Over 20 percent of US flora are at risk. 80 percent of those are closely related to plants with agronomic importance With some potentially valuable species still to be identified and with climate change endangering more plants, it is even more urgent to identify, prioritize and address conservation needs. But how can awareness of this still arcane problem grow? Naomi Fragga, research botanist at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, CA, talks about why people already working in this field care so much about it. Patty Roess of Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano, CA, describes the way drought is helping recruit non experts to restore native species in gardens and landscapes.