Please join us for a reception celebrating the opening of Ghost Trees, a digital art show presented in augmented reality which celebrates the lives of five iconic Arboretum trees. Artist Sonia Ralston has skillfully recreated these beloved trees as 3-D digital models: visitors can scan a QR code and see these trees superimposed on the landscape behind them, experiencing them as they once stood.
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 use the page for self-guided exploration while visiting the Arboretum in person.
Take a virtual walk with Michael Dosmann, the Keeper of the Arboretum’s living collections. Take this tour online or use the page for self-guided exploration 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.
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.
A botanist at the Arnold Arboretum officially named and described the seven son flower in 1916. But the species would not be grown in the United States until 1980. This plant was among the first.
I love connecting members and donors with the landscape and the Arboretum’s mission. Together, we can ensure the Arboretum’s dynamic landscape grows in perpetuity.
There are not many other places where I could study such a diverse group of species. I love having such an exceptional collection next door to the lab, and despite spending so much time in the landscape, I still keep finding wonderful new spots with plants from around the world.
I am so grateful to come to work every day in a place where so many people come to find joy, relaxation, healing, and learning. Working with seeds and plants in the beginning stages of their lives is a constant reminder of the miraculous and complex life cycles that plants carry out all around us.
The Arnold has an incredible history of plant-loving people that I really relate to. I feel lucky to work here and look forward to it every day.
I love creating programs that get people excited about plants and the Arboretum and seeing the participants’ reactions first-hand. When someone feels really inspired, or excited, or awestruck because of a program I planned, there’s no better feeling.
