Sweet Briar faculty members Dylan Wittkower and Janet Steven will offer a workshop on orchid biology and culture, open to faculty, staff, students and local community members.

The workshop will be held 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 23, in the Sweet Briar greenhouse, next to Guion Science Center. Wittkower, a visiting assistant professor of philosophy who studies and collects orchids, and Steven, an assistant professor of biology, will co-teach the class.

“We will look at, pass around and discuss an assortment of species and hybrids,” Wittkower said. “Discussion will address plant and flower structures, culture and propagation, and maybe a bit on taxonomy and phylogeny.”

The cost to attend the workshop is $40, for which participants will receive two blooming-size plants and two plants that are near blooming size, including Ascofinetia Cherry Blossom, Cattleya percivaliana, Paphiopedilum Iratsume and Tolumnia Jairak Rainbow.

The plants represent some of the major groups of orchids commonly cultivated in the United States, and are appropriate for windowsill growers, Wittkower said. The course will specifically address the proper care and cultivation of the plants.

Participants must reserve a spot in the workshop no later than Feb. 8 by sending an e-mail to dwittkower@sbc.edu.