Events

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All events at the Arboretum are free.

Ongoing

Exhibits

photo of tree branches in a vase

Guided Tours

Plan Your Visit

Monthly Weekly Daily List

July 2025

3 women walk down a long forest path

Morning Fitness Walk

Join docent Lisa Gaquin for a brisk early morning walk along the inside perimeter of the Arboretum. This walk will be fast-paced, energetic, and will involve walking over hills and rough terrain. Note that this is not a traditional tour: you may hear some information about individual trees and history, but the main goal is to get outside and get some exercise! Bring good walking shoes, water, and walking poles if desired.

08 Jul
9:00 am – 10:30 am
in front of the Hunnewell Building

125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain, MA

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A small painted turtle is held in someone's hands

Tree Mob: Turtles with Zoo New England
Virtual Event

Zoo New England is partnering with the Arboretum to run its annual turtle survey! For the past five summers, ZNE conservation biologists have ventured into the ponds of the Arboretum to survey the turtles, minnows, and other biodiversity present there. Join Zoo New England staff for a Tree Mob to meet and learn about the fascinating species that call the Arboretum ponds home.

09 Jul
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm
Ponds

8V2J+P6C Boston, Massachusetts

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A man uses a crystal singing bowl in the woods

Meditation in the Collections for Older Adults

*Rescheduled from June 25 due to weather.* Unwind with a nature meditation and sound bath in the Leventritt Shrub and Vine Garden, specially designed for older adults. Facilitator Bob Linscott will guide the group through one hour and a half of mindfulness and meditative soundscapes to help you de-stress and connect with the natural world. This program takes place in the Leventritt Shrub and Vine Garden, but we will gather in front of the Hunnewell Building at 125 Arborway and take a van to the Leventritt.

10 Jul

Rescheduled

10:00 am – 11:30 am
in front of the Hunnewell Building

125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain, MA

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Dark blue images with bright white leaf silhouettes, hung with clothespins

Make Your Own Cyanotypes: A Drop-In Program

Stop by the Hunnewell Lawn while supplies last to create beautiful nature-based cyanotype prints. Participants will arrange flowers, leaves, and seeds and expose them in sunlight to create a deep blue print with bright, ghost-white silhouettes.

This is a drop-in program so there is no need to register, just stop by and get creative!

12 Jul
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Hunnewell Lawn

125 Arborway, Boston, MA 02130

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A brown and tan bird perches on a twig and eats pink berries

Birding at the Arboretum Sold Out

Have you ever wanted to learn more about the feathered friends you see and hear on a walk through the Arnold Arboretum? If so, please join birders and volunteers TJ and Allison for a leisurely 90-minute bird watching walk. We will cover a variety of habitats and focus on the changes that seasonal migration brings to our resident birds, so come back often to keep up with the seasons!

13 Jul
8:00 am – 9:30 am
in front of the Hunnewell Building

125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain, MA

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Clumps of orange berries

East Meets West: Parallel Plants Across Hemispheres

Over 90% of the Arboretum’s wild-collected plants came from either eastern Asia or eastern North America. These include several closely related species that grow in entirely different hemispheres, including species of maples, viburnums, hydrangea, and more. Join Keeper of the Living Collections Michael Dosmann to learn about some of these plants’ evolutionary histories, morphological similarities (and differences), horticultural merits, and how they were introduced into cultivation and to the Arboretum specifically.

13 Jul
10:00 am – 11:30 am
in front of the Hunnewell Building

125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain, MA

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White shelf mushrooms growing on a tree trunk

Mushroom Hunt Sold Out

Hundreds of mushrooms hide beneath the Arboretum’s canopies, silently blossoming into unique forms then withering away again just as quickly. Join local mushroom enthusiast Maria Pinto to search for these fascinating organisms on the Arboretum grounds, both edible and poisonous alike. Along the way you will learn what mushrooms to look for in different habitats and seasons, how they move through ecosystems, and what the Arboretum’s unique collections affect what mushrooms you might find here.

13 Jul
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Bussey Street Gate

7VWC+HQ7 Boston, Massachusetts

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Conifer Collection Tour

The conifer collection at the Arnold Arboretum is a magical place to visit at any time of the year, as it is especially rich in history and diversity. Docent Cristina Squeff will lead participants through this collection explaining key identification features and sharing relevant stories about individual trees. 

14 Jul
9:00 am – 10:30 am
Bussey Street Gate

7VWC+HQ7 Boston, Massachusetts

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Little Explorers

Join us at the Arboretum as we read and discover new things about the natural world. During this one-hour program for our youngest guests and their grownups, we will read a nature inspired story, do a craft, and go for a nature walk to continue exploring the theme.

16 Jul
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Hunnewell Lecture Hall

8V4H+WM Boston, Massachusetts

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The Cosmic Tree: A Universal Symbol of Life: Flowering Trees

Cosmologies are ways of understanding the nature of the universe, of experiencing the world in all its variations including the visible and the invisible. Over millennia trees have served as the mythological archetype of the world’s axis (axis mundi), the pole through the earth’s center which connects the worlds above and below. Within a cosmic-magical model of the world  (imago mundi), trees also evolved in various cultures to possess innate spiritual powers or as conduits for communication with the holy or sacred.

During this tour we will discuss angiosperms, the largest and most diverse group in the plant kingdom. All flowering trees are angiosperms, but not all angiosperms reproduce in the same way, so you may not see blooms and flowers but plenty of leaves. Docent Katrina Scott will lead this interactive tour with stops for moments to reflect on specific trees and the stories associated with them. Were they revered or feared?  A home for deities or tricksters?

19 Jul
9:00 am – 10:30 am
Centre Street Gate

8V2F+WQJ Boston, Massachusetts

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Closeup of a bee on a flower

Bees and Beyond: Pollinators at the Arboretum Sold Out

Join pollinator expert Nicole Bell for a walk through the Arboretum’s meadows to find bees and other pollinators in their natural habitat. Nicole will use a sweep net to find and catch bees in the landscape so participants can see them up close, while we talk about the most common bees found in Massachusetts, where they live and what they eat, and the importance of places like the Arboretum for pollinator conservation.

19 Jul
10:00 am – 11:30 am
Bussey Street Gate

7VWC+HQ7 Boston, Massachusetts

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Charles Sprague Sargent standing outdoors at the Arnold Arboretum.

Charles Sprague Sargent and the American Forest

Many are aware of Charles Sprague Sargent’s role as first director of the Arnold Arboretum, establishing it as the world-renowned institution it is today. Far fewer are familiar with the deep influence he had over how Americans have come to think about forests, forestry, and wilderness. Docent Paul Eldrenkamp will lead a tour that explores the history of the idea of the forest in America- and how Sargent helped shape that idea.

19 Jul
10:00 am – 11:30 am
Bussey Street Gate

7VWC+HQ7 Boston, Massachusetts

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No event found!