Exhibits
Guided Tours
Plan Your Visit
Join Helen Murphy, LCSW for a family wellness walk at the Arnold Arboretum! Time in nature provides a stunning space to exhale as well as a myriad of mental health benefits. Helen will lead families on a leisurely walk to introduce participants not only to the unique plants within the Arboretum, but also to wellness practices along the way. Join us for an opportunity to recharge and connect!
Embark on a birdwatching tour in the Arboretum’s landscape with docent and birder Donna Sullivan. This two-hour tour is suitable for adult beginners as well as more experienced birders.
Autumn is one of the most beautiful times of year at the Arboretum, with leaves changing color and all sorts of unique seeds and fruits appearing on the branches. Join docent Vicki Amalfitano for a tour to learn about all the changes that happen in the Arboretum’s collections in the fall.
Drop by the Arboretum to make some beautiful ink prints using fallen leaves. This is a walk-up program so no registration is necessary, just stop by any time between 12pm and 2pm!
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.
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? We will begin at the Walter Street Gate to visit the oldest ginkgoes at the Arboretum, then head up the Conifer Path and diverge to walk, rest, and reflect among various conifers, eventually ending by the yews near Bussey Brook and Hemlock Hill Road.
Explore part of the Arboretum’s 281 acre landscape, hear stories of the Arboretum’s history, get an introduction to some of the many woody plant collections, and enjoy what’s in bloom during this 90-minute, docent-led tour. This tour highlights areas near the Flora Way Gate including the Conifer Collection, Hemlock Hill, Rhododendron Dell and Valley Road.
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.
Did you know that the Weld Hill Research Building at the Arboretum has the largest geothermal heating system at Harvard? There are 88 wells hidden under the namesake hill which help heat and cool the state-of-the-art research building. Join Head of Operations and Project Management Danny Schissler for a behind-the-scenes look at this fascinating system.
Join Helen Murphy, LCSW for a family wellness walk at the Arnold Arboretum! Time in nature provides a stunning space to exhale as well as a myriad of mental health benefits. Helen will lead families on a leisurely walk to introduce participants not only to the unique plants within the Arboretum, but also to wellness practices along the way. Join us for an opportunity to recharge and connect!
Dusk is a perfect time to look and listen for Great Horned Owls, often heard calling throughout the Arboretum’s collections. Join Arboretum Horticulturist Brendan Keegan and Matt Kamm, Associate Director of Field Conservation at Zoo New England, to hear about the owls’ breeding and nesting behavior, learn how to go owling ethically, and possibly hear and see a few owls as well.
Join Keeper of the Living Collections Michael Dosmann for a story of a flower and the early 20th Century explorer who ventured to the other side of the world, away from family and modern convenience, to collect it. The regal lily (Lilium regale) was not just an object of desire but one of such value that it would underwrite one of the most significant collecting expeditions of the day. Yet, its beauty almost betrayed the collector, nearly taking both his reputation and his life.
Join Helen Murphy, LCSW for a family wellness walk at the Arnold Arboretum! Time in nature provides a stunning space to exhale as well as a myriad of mental health benefits. Helen will lead families on a leisurely walk to introduce participants not only to the unique plants within the Arboretum, but also to wellness practices along the way. Join us for an opportunity to recharge and connect!
Peter Del Tredici spent more than thirty years at the Arboretum, researching the interaction between woody plants and their environment. One particular area of interest was the genus Tsuga, or the hemlocks. Join Del Tredici for a talk on his original hemlock research and learn about the ecology of Tsuga canadensis, the history of Sargent’s weeping hemlock, the impact of hemlock woolly adelgid, and the discovery of a new hemlock species in Korea.
Join Helen Murphy, LCSW for a family wellness walk at the Arnold Arboretum! Time in nature provides a stunning space to exhale as well as a myriad of mental health benefits. Helen will lead families on a leisurely walk to introduce participants not only to the unique plants within the Arboretum, but also to wellness practices along the way. Join us for an opportunity to recharge and connect!