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Arts & Culture

A GROWING PASSION: Distant Roots And Tasty Shoots: Plants At The Zoo

Host Nan Sterman and staff at the San Diego Zoo harvest banana browse.
Courtesy of Michael Gerdes / AGP Productions
Host Nan Sterman and staff at the San Diego Zoo harvest banana browse.

Stream or tune in Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 8:30 p.m. & Sunday, March 28 at 11 a.m.on KPBS TV

Host Nan Sterman returns for Season 5 of A GROWING PASSION, a television show that celebrates all the ways that San Diego “grows,” from farms and nurseries to backyards and schoolyards, to native habitats and more.

Aloes and cycads.
Courtesy of Michael Gerdes / AGP Productions
Aloes and cycads.

San Diego Zoological Society is world renowned for its animal collections at the San Diego Zoo and the Zoo Safari Park.

What few people realize is that the Zoo and Safari Park have world-class collections of more than a million plants, too.

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Host Nan Sterman in the orchid house.
Courtesy of Michael Gerdes / AGP Productions
Host Nan Sterman in the orchid house.

We stroll through the zoo with some of the browse staff who point out plants they harvest on-site, then take us to the offsite farm where they grow and harvest more browse.

What there isn't room to grow on-site gets collected along highways and in neighborhoods around San Diego County.

We visit reserved koalas whose strict eucalyptus diet is prepared in a special kitchen, tortoises who enjoy a range of fresh greens and more.

Host Nan Sterman (right) feeds a tortoise.
Courtesy of Michael Gerdes / AGP Productions
Host Nan Sterman (right) feeds a tortoise.

Watch On Your Schedule:

Episodes of A GROWING PASSION will be available for streaming on demand following the broadcast. All past seasons are available on demand now.

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A GROWING PASSION is on Facebook, and you can follow @GrowingPassion on Twitter. Share photos and follow the series on Instagram.

A GROWING PASSION: Season 5 Preview