The Friends of Fakahatchee will host The Cuban Connection: Finding Florida’s Lost Orchids, a dinner program, at 5 p.m., April 18, at Naples Botanical Garden. The event will feature presentations by American and Cuban orchid experts that have been working together to return South Florida’s “lost” orchids—several species that disappeared due to the habitat destruction and collecting that took place during the 20th century.

The event begins with a tour of the orchid pavilion, followed by a Cuban-inspired buffet dinner with island drinks. The Cuban-American team, including Mike Owen, a park biologist at Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park; Dr. Rolando Perez, the director of science at Soroa Botanical Garden, in Cuba; and Dennis Giardina, an Everglades region biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, will deliver a presentation on the progress they have made to conserve and reintroduce rare and extinct orchid species.

Cost: $50. For reservations (required) or more information, visit OrchidSwamp.org.