Established in 1976, Shelldance Gardens, LLC is an orchid nursery operated by partners Michael Rothenberg and Nancy Davis. Shelldance Gardens, LLC is a botanical environment open to the public and devoted exclusively to growing orchids, bromeliads and neotropical plants. Shelldance occupies historic greenhouses built in 1949 by Herb Hager for the cultivation of orchids.

              “To discover and share knowledge about the floriculture of orchids, bromeliads and home gardening in order to preserve and enrich life. We are committed to the propagation, growing and preservation of rare and at-risk, cool growing orchids. We provide further leadership in protecting the environment and being active on important community concerns.”

Leading by example, we accomplish our mission through research, education, and advocacy.

The orchid family (Orchidaceae) demonstrates one of the most specialized lines of flowering plant evolution; eight percent of all flowering plants are orchids, making them the largest family of angiosperms, (a plant that has flowers and produces seed) Orchids have a complex life cycle, a symbiotic mycorrhizal association (at germination) and exotic pollination mechanisms; therefore, orchids have a great deal to offer in the study of interactions between plants, fungi, and the animal kingdom. Orchids are also extraordinarily sensitive to environmental changes, a subject of increasing global interest.

The conditions found in high elevation cloud forests are difficult to recreate. The West Coast of Californian is one of the rare US locations to offer the unique climate that neotropical plants and orchids require. The proximity of Shelldance Gardens to the Pacific Ocean produces near-ideal growing conditions for the culture and propagation of cool-growing orchids and bromeliads.

Today, the greenhouses of Shelldance Gardens, LLC serve as growing areas and as a repository for collections of rare, Neotropical, cool-growing orchids many of which are threatened with extinction through loss of habitat. Academics, botanical gardens, conservatories, photographers and international orchid researchers appreciate our commitment to provide the resource of a knowledge base for the culture and propagation of these orchids and regularly visit the greenhouses to participate in our growing programs.

The preservation of the heritage and legacy that Herb Hager founded at this site in 1949 and which Shelldance Gardens, LLC continues is a world resource and a local treasure.