As part of this year’s Earth Day programming, NYBG hosts artist, professor, and fruit tree grower Sam Van Aken for a dynamic discussion about grafting—a centuries-old horticultural technique—and its integral role in improving local biodiversity and habitat conservation. Sam Van Aken will share his citywide project, The Open Orchard, a public orchard on Governors Island that launched in 2022 and contains nearly 250 fruit tree varieties that once grew in and around New York City but disappeared with the rise of industrialized agriculture. Van Aken will highlight the process of returning these lost varieties to sites throughout the city and its environmental benefits.

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