Joan Fitzgerald, Professor of Urban Planning and Policy at Northeastern University, will discuss how cities are rethinking their approach to climate action by placing racial justice at the forefront. Building on concepts in her book, Greenovation: Urban Leadership on Climate Change (2020), she’ll draw from recent experiences with U.S. cities in creating participatory processes and new priorities for a just transition to a carbon-free society. Join us via Zoom.
This half-mile Introductory Tour features stories about the Arboretum’s history, mission, and research endeavors. If you’re at the Arboretum, click here to take a version of this tour with Expeditions, our mobile web app.
Experience the Arnold Arboretum’s world-class Living Collections from Director Ned Friedman’s perspective. Take this tour online or while visiting the Arboretum in person.
This quarter-mile tour through the Explorers Garden features stories from the Arboretum’s century and a half of collecting plants around the world. If you’re at the Arboretum, click here to take a version of this tour with Expeditions, our mobile web app.
Take a walk with Michael Dosmann, the Keeper of the Arboretum’s Living Collections. Take this tour online or while visiting the Arboretum in person.
This dawn redwood was grown from seed brought to the Arboretum in 1948 from China. Widespread during the Mesozoic Era (around 252 to 66 million years ago), dawn redwood narrowly escaped extinction. Today, it is a common feature among botanical gardens and parks across the temperate world.
The Arnold Arboretum’s oldest katsura arrived as seed in 1878. The story of how it came here is the opening of long series of exchanges between the Arboretum and researchers in Japan.
As a researcher, I am very fortunate to be part of the Arnold Arboretum community because it feels like a unique place where the advancement of science and knowledge is deeply enmeshed with the endeavors of a public garden.
As an Outdoor Educator, I love that I get to translate science and horticulture into hands-on teachable moments for children in our landscape! I also enjoy working with teachers to promote the use of outdoor spaces for meaningful life science education in schools.
This Place nourishes the Soul as well as the Body. I returned for my health and rediscovered such beauty openly observed and freely given by all who crossed my path. This Palace of the Senses allowed me to create The Path Taken. Maybe my Exhibit can serve as a remainder of days passed, soon to return.
The community spirit at the Arboretum is truly palpable. From my first exposure as an Aggie intern in 2014, to being a full-time Gardener now, this has only grown. The folks who work here truly care about the Arboretum’s mission—and maybe even more so—about their colleagues.
For the last 41 years, it has been an honor and privilege to contribute to the stewardship of the collections and landscape of the Arnold Arboretum. I feel a sense of gratitude and accomplishment each day and although there have been challenging times from winter storms, drought, and plant pests, to the world we find ourselves in today, the trees have provided me unwavering inspiration and pride.
Every tour brings a surprise, even after 36 years! It might be the sun catching the “Ruby Glow” witch hazel in February or the smell of toasted marshmallows from trodden katsura leaves in the fall. A squirrel running up a visitor’s trouser leg was perhaps the biggest surprise of them all.
Many students have never held a root in their hand, never looked at a flower very carefully, never even thought about tree architecture the study of plant form. We’re opening their eyes.
