While HBG houses many plant collections the Trillium collection is our first to receive national accreditation as a viable and sustainable plant collection through the American Public Garden Association’s (APGA’s) Plant Collection Network (PCN). Amy Highland, Curator of Mt. Cuba Center, reviewed our collection for Nationally Accredited Plant Collections (NAPC) and deemed it, “ by far the most extensive public collection of eastern North American native Trillium”.
Huntsville Botanical Garden has the largest accredited Trillium collection in the country!
HBG Trillium Collection
The HBG Trillium Collection is a multi-faceted research and educational collection aimed at expanding the knowledge of Trillium species, their diversity and the best protocols for propagating, transplanting and growing them. A most important and necessary aspect of HBG Trillium Collection Plan is the educational display of the Trillium collection diversity to encourage knowledge interchange within the technical and professional community. Having the PCN recognize the collection further enhances this objective.
Current state of mis-information among Trillium enthusiast highlights the need for data. The professionals focus on science such as DNA and new plant species, the plantsman focus on best way to propagate, the nurseryman focus on attractive sellable features, the wildflower collector wants diversity, and the conservationist wants them preserved in nature and lastly the Botanical Gardens want them to attract visitors. Formal documentation in the Trillium world is at best very limited and incomplete with 4 Trillium specific books published more than 15 years ago and several research papers published every few years.
Some of the HBG Trillium Collection objectives:
- Research
- Educational & garden displays
- Taxonomy
- Demonstrate diversity
- Encourage native hybrids
- Species and regional phenology
- Propagation protocols
- Germination protocols
- Transplant protocols
- Conservation protocols
- Native plantings
Some documentation features of HBG Collection:
- Plant Accession Based.
- Plant Database.
- Plant Image Database.
- Durable Accession Labels.
- Collection GIS Map Data.
- Species Pollen Database.
HBG Trillium Collection Characterized:
- > 10,000 plants in Collection in HBG Garden.
- > 10,000 Seed planted each year in Nursery for future Collection Additions.
- > 800 Accessions in Collection.
- > 500 Plants in Garden Evaluation for future Collection Additions.
- >80 Collection Taxa.
- 31 Eastern Trillium
Trillium Collection Organization:
- 30 TEG (Trillium Education Garden) Species Beds.
- 4 TMG (Trillium Memorial Gardens) Display Beds.
- 20 DTC (Donated Trillium Collections) Display Beds from Trillium
- >200 STC (Select Trillium Collection) Forms for continued evaluation.
- 11 NAC (Native Area Collections) documenting Trillium Gene sets from Select areas.
- 12 PDC (Propagation Demonstration Collections) Beds.
- 6 TL (Trillium Loops) Display and Research beds in Garden setting.
The Holmes Trillium Garden is an education, display and research garden with several major collections displaying thousands of Trillium and hundreds of select candidate Trillium forms. The Holmes Trillium Garden is named in honor of HBG volunteer Harold Holmes.
The Power of Three: Trillium Walk at Huntsville Botanical Gardens, March 28, 2018