Nina is a living legend of the plant world. Currently a professor and program leader of the Urban Horticulture Institute at Cornell University, she also is the co-author of Trees in the Urban Landscape, a text for landscape architects and horticultural practitioners on establishing trees in disturbed and urban landscapes.
Nina has authored over 100 papers focusing on the physiological problems of plants growing in urban environments, including improved plant selections for difficult sites, soil modification including the development of CU-Structural Soil and improved transplanting technology.
A native New Yorker, Nina is on the Technical Advisory Committee of the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) and works closely with municipalities to help implement best practices in urban forestry management.
Nina helped to develop the Student Weekend Arborist Team (SWAT) to inventory public trees in small communities. She is a frequent invited speaker at conferences and workshops and received the Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellowship from Cornell University.
At Florae, Nina oversees research, education, conservation, and propagation of rare woody ornamentals.
Ryan Georgia is one of the United State’s premier carnivorous plant growers. He is best known for founding Native Exotics, a carnivorous plant nursery focused on plants produced in tissue culture. Ryan grows top-notch, well acclimated plants and has contributed many unique hybrids to the hobby, including Nepenthes glandulifera x edwardsiana and Nepenthes (veitchii x lowii) x edwardsiana.
Ryan first started with carnivorous plants at age 12, when he was taken under the wing of Mary Alyce Kobler at Cornell University. His horticultural skills were honed at Boyce Thompson Research Institute, where he received carnivorous plant seed from the International Carnivorous Plant Society and learned how to propagate and cultivate these amazing plants. Over the years working with other Cornell staff and graduate students he learned how to propagate Nepenthes and other plants via plant micropropagation. After graduating high school, Ryan went on to study Environmental Studies at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Ryan and Nina met in 2018 and founded a lab at Cornell University researching the clonal fidelity of Quercus (commonly known as oak trees). After initial success, they decided to combine their forces (and plant knowledge) and to start Florae Collaborative.
Ryan is responsible for our tissue culture lab, greenhouse, and the cultivation and propagation of tropical plants.
Priscila Castilho leads PhytaCell, Florae Collaborative’s tissue culture division, where she oversees the science and systems behind the plants PhytaCell grows and ships at scale.
Priscila is a biologist and leads operations at PhytaCell, working at the intersection of science and business. She moves easily between the lab bench and the business side, helping guide production planning, pricing, and the investments that support the company’s long-term growth.
Earlier in her career, Priscila founded and grew a business of her own from the ground up, an experience that sharpened her commercial instincts and gave her a lasting passion for building organizations and solving hard problems. She has spent her career leading cross-functional teams, improving manufacturing efficiency, and working directly with customers to understand what they need and build solutions that work for everyone involved.
At Florae, Priscila leads PhytaCell’s day-to-day operations, from production planning to quality control, making sure every plant that leaves the lab meets the same standard of care PhytaCell is known for.
