Carleton Virtual Breakfast Club
Growing in the Glasshouse: Orchids and Collections Horticulture
with George Guenthner ’14
Thursday, February 8, 2024
9 a.m. Central Time
via Zoom
There’s an orchid for everyone—at least that’s what George Guenthner ’14 has come to believe in his career as a Collections Horticulturist. After graduating with a degree in biology, George left Carleton focused on the field of ecology and a future in academia, but he stumbled into horticulture and has never looked back.
In the decade since graduation, George has worked at a heritage orchid nursery, gained a Masters of Science in Applied Plant Sciences from the University of Minnesota in 2019, and worked as an orchid specialist at the Atlanta Botanic Garden and the United States Botanic Garden. He has also maintained an extensive private collection that includes hundreds of orchids and other unique plant species in customized home environments.
George will share his journey into a career that’s rarely explored in school and what it’s like to work as a Collections Horticulturist at a botanic garden. Additionally, he will provide some basic insight into orchids and how best to succeed with them at home at any scale.