Ep. 556 - From Seeds to Plants: A Plant Conservation Pipeline

In Defense of Plants Podcast

In Defense of Plants

Science & Medicine, Natural Sciences

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 14 December 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Plant conservation comes in many forms. Today we explore a plant conservation pipeline that starts with propagation and continues through to reintroducing rare plants back into the wild. Conservation Collections Manager for the Desert Botanical Gardens Steve Blackwell takes us behind the scenes of the Garden’s living collection, where rare, threatened, and endangered species are collected, propagated, and carefully curated for both research and recovery efforts. This episode was produced in part by Matthew, April, Dana, Lilith, Sanza, Eva, Yellowroot, Wisewren, Nadia, Heidi, Blake, Josh, Laure, R.J., Carly, Lucia, Dana, Sarah, Lauren, Strych Mind, Linda, Sylvan, Austin, Sarah, Ethan, Elle, Steve, Cassie, Chuck, Aaron, Gillian, Abi, Rich, Shad, Maddie, Owen, Linda, Alana, Sigma, Max, Richard, Maia, Rens, David, Robert, Thomas, Valerie, Joan, Mohsin Kazmi Photography, Cathy, Simon, Nick, Paul, Charis, EJ, Laura, Sung, NOK, Stephen, Heidi, Kristin, Luke, Sea, Shannon, Thomas, Will, Jamie, Waverly, Brent, Tanner, Rick, Kazys, Dorothy, Katherine, Emily, Theo, Nichole, Paul, Karen, Randi, Caelan, Tom, Don, Susan, Corbin, Keena, Robin, Peter, Whitney, Kenned, Margaret, Daniel, Karen, David, Earl, Jocelyn, Gary, Krysta, Elizabeth, Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts, Pattypollinators, Peter, Judson, Ella, Alex, Dan, Pamela, Peter, Andrea, Nathan, Karyn, Michelle, Jillian, Chellie, Linda, Laura, Miz Holly, Christie, Carlos, Paleo Fern, Levi, Sylvia, Lanny, Ben, Lily, Craig, Sarah, Lor, Monika, Brandon, Jeremy, Suzanne, Kristina, Christine, Silas, Michael, Aristia, Felicidad, Lauren, Danielle, Allie, Jeffrey, Amanda, Tommy, Marcel, C Leigh, Karma, Shelby, Christopher, Alvin, Arek, Chellie, Dani, Paul, Dani, Tara, Elly, Colleen, Natalie, Nathan, Ario, Laura, Cari, Margaret, Mary, Connor, Nathan, Jan, Jerome, Brian, Azomonas, Ellie, University Greens, Joseph, Melody, Patricia, Matthew, Garrett, John, Ashley, Cathrine, Melvin, OrangeJulian, Porter, Jules, Griff, Joan, Megan, Marabeth, Les, Ali, Southside Plants, Keiko, Robert, Bryce, Wilma, Amanda, Helen, Mikey, Michelle, German, Joerg, Cathy, Tate, Steve, Kae, Carole, Mr. Keith Santner, Lynn, Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Brett, Jocelyn, Ethan, Sheryl, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Chris, Alana, Rachel, Joanna, Lori, Paul, Griff, Matthew, Bobby, Vaibhav, Steven, Joseph, Brandon, Liam, Hall, Jared, Brandon, Christina, Carly, Kazys, Stephen, Katherine, Manny, doeg, Daniel, Tim, Philip, Tim, Lisa, Brodie, Bendix, Irene, holly, Sara, and Margie.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Conversations like you're about to hear do not happen unless you support In Defensive Plants.
0:04.0	And now more than ever, we need conversations like this to reach as many ears as possible.
0:09.0	One of the best ways to help keep In Defensive Plants up and running is to become a patron over at patreon.com slash In Defensive Plants.
0:16.0	In return for a tiny bit of support each month, you will get access to a completely separate podcasts.
0:21.0	It explores a lot of really fun gardening topics, everything from seed collection and storage
0:25.2	to growing native plants, the struggles of trying to garden in different climates, and so much
0:30.2	more. It's a heck of a lot of fun. We're learning so much, and we're trying to share that with you.
0:34.5	So come on and join the Patreon over at patreon.com slash indefensive plants and help keep this show up and running in the process. I hope to see you over there. But in the meantime, on with the show. Hello everyone and welcome to the Indefensive Plants podcast, the official podcast of indefensiveplants.com. What's up? This is your host, Matt. Welcome to the show. How is everyone doing this week? I'm doing great because we are talking about plant conservation efforts and pretty much every step of the process from finding populations, collecting seeds, growing those plants out, and getting them back into the wild. But there are a lot of unique challenges along the way, and joining us to talk about all of this is Steve Blackwell from the Desert Botanical
1:11.2	Garden. Steve says it in the conversation, and I'm going to have to agree with him, he's got one of
1:14.9	the best jobs in the world. But who better to tell you about it than Steve himself? So let's just
1:19.4	jump right into it. Without further ado, here's my conversation with Steve Blackwell. I hope you
1:23.7	enjoy.
1:40.4	All right, Steve Blackwell, welcome to the podcast.
1:41.8	I can't wait to talk to you today.
1:43.5	But first, let's start off with an introduction.
1:46.4	Tell everyone a little bit about who you are and what it is you do.
1:50.9	Yeah, my name is Steve Blackwell. I work here at Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona.
1:58.0	I am the conservation collections manager. My job is basically to care for the collection of rare and danger species, as well as I manage our seed bank and our newly formed
2:04.2	tissue culture lab, which I started in 2020. Nice. It's a really charmed position from an outsider
2:09.9	looking in. I'm sure days kind of wax and wane in terms of stress level because you're both
2:14.2	growing plants, which is fun, but also you're dealing with a lot of rare
2:17.7	things, which I can guess be nerve-wracking. But what brought you to this point in your life?
	...

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