Orchid expert Dalström and filmmaker Saffer to offer screening and program

Jan. 6 event scheduled at Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota

Stig Dahlstrom. Image courtesy Sarasota County
Stig Dalstrom. Image courtesy Sarasota County

Sarasota County Extension Master Gardeners will host a special screening of The Wild Orchid Man in the Ghost Orchid Swamp on Wednesday, Jan. 6, at the Sarasota County Extension and Sustainability Office at Twin Lakes Park, the county has announced.

Join former Selby Gardens botanist and orchid expert Stig Dalström and filmmaker Darryl Saffer “as they discuss the arduous task of orchid hunting and answer questions pertaining to orchids in Florida,” a news release says. “Learn about the raw beauty and surprising survivability of orchids,” as well as ecological preservation, the release adds.

Registration is $5 for the general public and free for active Sarasota County Extension Master Gardeners, the release notes. Proceeds from the screening will benefit the Master Gardeners’ Chapter of the Friends of Sarasota County Parks, which supports educational outreach programs in Sarasota County, the release says.

Advanced registration is required.

The 2009 film focuses on Dalström’s hunt for the rare “ghost orchid” among the bald cypress, alligators, panthers, snakes and other creatures in Florida’s Fakahatchee Strand, the release points out. “Dalström highlights what the mysterious, magical orchids can teach about adapting and surviving in the global ecosystem.”

After the ghost orchid search, Dalström and Saffer filmed orchid-hunting trips to the Arctic, the Amazon, the Andes and other areas around the globe as part of a Wild Orchid Man series, the release explains.

The event will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Jan. 6. Twin Lakes Park is located at 6700 Clark Road in Sarasota.

For more information or to register, visit www.sarasota.ifas.ufl.edu , call 861-5000 or email sarasota@ifas.ufl.edu.