With bark that exfoliates in cinnamon and gold curls, paperbark maple (Acer griseum) is a stunning Chinese temperate species, but one endangered in its native range. As such, the species has been the subject of international conservation efforts, including exploration and collection by the Arboretum. Join us online to learn more about efforts to grow and protect this remarkable species in a virtual Tree Mob with Arboretum staff experts.
Explore stories about botany, horticulture, conservation, and Arboretum history through photos, text, and audio segments.
Experience the Arnold Arboretum’s world-class Living Collections from Director Ned Friedman’s perspective. Click here to see this tour on Arb Explorer.
Take a walk with Michael Dosmann, the Keeper of the Arboretum’s Living Collections. Click here to see this tour on Arb Explorer.
This quarter-mile tour through the Explorers Garden features stories from the Arboretum’s century and a half of collecting plants around the world. Click here to take this tour on Expeditions, the Arboretum’s mobile app.
A remarkable and rare species native to central China, this maple is most known for its striking copper-colored papery bark. Plant collector Ernest Henry Wilson introduced it to North America in 1907. The Arboretum is home to some of the oldest paperbark maples outside of China.
A member of the tea family (Theaceae), Franklin tree sports a showy white flower and striking fall foliage. John Bartram, an early American botanist, recorded his encounter with the elusive plant while exploring southeastern Georgia with his son William in 1765. William later collected seed and propagated the plant, which became extinct in the wild shortly thereafter.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
