When free plants were given to members, I selected two yellow wood trees collected by one of Harvard's botanists. There are now 15 ft high and I am waiting for them to bloom one of these years. Too bad that program was stopped.
Stephen C. Snyder
My first encounter with the Arnold Arboretum was fate. I saw it advertised on a paper poster hung on campus at my undergrad university. I happened to walk by this covered bulletin board in the hall on a Sunday. I stopped to tie my shoe and when I looked up I saw the poster advertising the Summer Intern program. I applied and was accepted. While I was waiting to see if I was an intern candidate, I asked a well known gardener for one of Salt Lake’s busiest tourist destinations if he thought the expense of living back east was worth the experience. He told me that visiting the Arnold was every gardeners journey to Mecca, and encouraged me to do everything possible to get there if I was accepted. I took his advice and sold my car and quit my job. Looking back, I’ve made that pilgrimage back to the Arnold several times for the sheer joy of the experience. Sometimes, the trip was made with limited funds but the sacrifices made were always worth the experience. Something about being in the presence of greatness and the splendid old friends growing in the collection gave me the perspective of 4 Dimensional design over time. Some of my favorite haunts are the Maples, the Oaks, the Rose Collection (spent a lot of sweat equity weeding there), Lilac Hill, Crabapple Meadow and Peter’s Hill. My favorite is visiting the Lars Anderson Bonsai collection. I had the fun of watering it personally. Those plants have more personality than a Vegas Show Headliner. I’ve been able to share the Arnold with friends and family occasionally over the last twenty years. Recently, I visited the Hunwell Building in March of 2020 for the conference on Women in Horticulture. I was able to reconnect with a friend and we went together. The conference was just the boost I needed to get back into the landscape/horticulture industry after raising a young family as a stay at home gardener. Listening to the presenters reminded me that I had valuable skills and knowledge amplified by life experience, which made my transition back to the paid work place less intimidating. The Arboretum and it’s programs are an invaluable asset to the world and community. I share my experiences there often as a Master Gardener adjunct lecturer, Garden Tour Docent and Landscape Designer. It’s truly a place that invokes a better understanding of time and place and one’s connection of self and soul in the natural world.
Virginia Harding Hooper
