Protect the Andes
A connection that began in Colombia
My relationship with Protect the Andes grew from a shared fascination with plants, wildlife and the intricate connections that hold a landscape together.
Protect the Andes is a conservation organisation working in Colombia to protect and restore the habitats of the Andes. Its work looks beyond individual species to the wider living landscape: cloud forest, water, native planting, wildlife corridors and the communities whose lives are closely connected to the land.
In 2024, I had the opportunity to travel into the Colombian Andes and experience some of these landscapes for myself.
The journey formed part of an expedition through the cloud forest, observing, auditing and recording Colombian orchids growing in their natural habitat. It was an extraordinary chance to see plants I had previously known primarily through cultivation, books and glasshouses living as part of a complex forest ecosystem.
Into the cloud forest
A cloud forest is not simply a collection of remarkable plants. It is a complete, interdependent system.
Moisture hangs in the air and gathers on leaves, branches and moss-covered surfaces. Orchids grow among trees and other vegetation, supported by particular combinations of altitude, humidity, fungi, insects and surrounding plant life.
Seeing orchids within this environment changed my understanding of them.
In cultivation, it is easy to concentrate on the individual plant: its flower, colour and form. In the forest, the orchid cannot be separated from the conditions around it. Its survival depends upon the wider habitat remaining healthy.
That interdependence was one of the most powerful lessons of the visit. Protecting a rare plant means protecting the trees around it, the insects that pollinate it, the fungi associated with its roots, the movement of water through the landscape and the connected areas of forest that allow species to spread and adapt.
Learning to look more closely
Part of the expedition involved auditing and recording orchids found within the cloud forest.
This careful observation matters because conservation begins with knowing what is present. Recording species and where they grow helps build a clearer understanding of the richness of a habitat and how that habitat may be changing.
The experience encouraged me to look beyond the most immediate beauty of a plant and consider the relationships that enable it to exist.
It also reinforced the value of patience. Some orchids are easily overlooked among the density of the forest. Others may only be recognisable at certain points in their life cycle. To find and understand them requires time, attention and knowledge of the landscape.
As a garden designer, I found this deeply affecting. Good design also begins with observation: understanding the soil, water, existing vegetation, wildlife and character of a place before deciding what should be changed.
Landscapes under pressure
The orchids of the Colombian Andes are remarkably diverse, but many are threatened by the loss and fragmentation of their cloud-forest habitat.
When forest is cleared or divided into isolated areas, the effects extend far beyond the loss of trees. The conditions on which orchids and other plants depend begin to change. Wildlife has fewer safe routes through the landscape, while populations can become separated from one another.
The work of Protect the Andes is therefore concerned with connection as much as protection. Native planting, habitat restoration and the creation of wildlife corridors can help damaged landscapes begin to function more naturally again.
The organisation also uses observation and technology to learn more about the species using these habitats, including rare orchids and the threatened Andean bear.
Standing within the cloud forest made the scale and urgency of that work feel very real. These are beautiful landscapes, but they are not indestructible.
Bringing the experience home
The Andes are vast, while most of the gardens I design in Britain are comparatively small. Yet the principles I encountered in Colombia remain relevant.
No habitat exists entirely on its own.
A British garden connects to neighbouring gardens, streets, parks, farmland and woodland. Birds and insects move across these boundaries, relying on a sequence of places in which they can feed, drink, shelter and reproduce.
Since visiting Colombia, I have thought even more carefully about those connections.
I consider how water moves through a garden, how planting can provide food across the seasons and how trees, hedges, ponds and areas of denser vegetation can form useful habitat. I look at what is already present before deciding what should be removed, and I try to create gardens that become richer and more ecologically valuable as they mature.
This does not mean recreating a wilderness or sacrificing the needs of the people using the garden. It means recognising that a beautiful garden can also be a functioning landscape.
The lessons I brought back from Colombia were not about reproducing the cloud forest in Britain. They were about learning to see a garden as part of something larger.
Raising awareness and funds
Since becoming involved with Protect the Andes, I have tried to use my work to help more people discover the organisation and understand why its conservation projects matter. This has included talks, public gardens, community activities and fundraising.
One school fundraising event introduced children to the plants, wildlife and landscapes of the Andes through growing, craft, food and performance. Pupils sold cakes, handmade items and plants they had raised, while one pupil wrote and organised a play inspired by explorers in the Andes. Together, they raised more than £480 for Protect the Andes.
The value of the day extended beyond the money raised. The children were able to engage with conservation creatively and understand that they could contribute to the protection of a landscape thousands of miles away.
For me, that sense of participation is vital. Environmental problems can feel enormous and distant. Fundraising, growing plants, learning about wildlife and sharing stories give people a way to become involved.
A continuing relationship
My visit to the Colombian Andes was not a self-contained journey. It began an ongoing process of learning and exchange.
Protect the Andes continues to influence how I think about plants, habitats and the responsibilities we have when shaping a landscape. Its work has shown me the importance of understanding a place as a connected system rather than a collection of separate features.
It has also reminded me that conservation is strengthened through relationships: between people and place, scientists and communities, individual gardens and wider landscapes.
I am proud to support Protect the Andes and to help share its work through Skylark Garden Design.
Support Protect the Andes
Donations help Protect the Andes continue its work protecting and restoring habitats in Colombia, recording threatened plants and wildlife, and reconnecting areas of fragmented landscape.
By supporting the organisation, you are helping to protect not only individual species but the complex cloud-forest environments upon which they depend.