PASADENA, CALIF – The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens hosted artist, photographer and author David Leaser for a lecture on cold hardy palms.

The lecture, delivered to members and guests of the Huntington, focused on palms that grow in cold climates. Leaser showed photographs from his personal collection of more than 20 palms that will survive sub-zero climates, including the needle palm (Rhapidophyllum histrix), a palm that grows as far north as the State of Maryland.

Leaser followed the lecture with a walk through the palm garden at the Huntington. The Huntington’s palm garden contains one of the most comprehensive collections of palms in the world, including rare and exotic species. Leaser showed attendees live examples of many of the palms in his lecture.

Leaser is a noted author on palms a frequent lecturer at botanical institutions, zoos and gardens. He is a frequest guest on radio programming, including “Garden Compass,” a radio show with more than one million listeners. Leaser’s Palm Trees: A Story in Photographs has received critical acclaim from major media outlets, critics and botanical institutions for its breakthrough images of palms.

The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens is an educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington near Pasadena, California. In addition to the Library, the institution displays an art collection strong in English portraits and French eighteenth-century furniture in the mansion and a botanic garden that features a conservatory as well as a cactus collection, a Zen garden, a Chinese garden, a Jungle Garden and many other specialty gardens.