Explorers Garden Tour

Centre Street Gate 8V2F+WQJ, Boston

The Explorers Garden rests in a microclimate just below the summit of Bussey Hill. This nearly five-acre site provides ideal growing conditions for many species that have been challenging to grow in less protected areas of the Arboretum. As such, it has proven to be a perfect testing ground for plants collected in the expeditions of E. H. Wilson in the early 1900s to the NACPEC  (North America-China Plant Exploration Consortium) expeditions of our own time. Join docent Marie Herbert for a guided tour to learn more about some of the plants showcased in this special collection and to hear stories of the plant exploration expeditions that brought them to the Arboretum.

Free

Haunted Botany: A Performance for a Forgotten Forest

Peters Hill Gate Peters Hill Gate, Boston

The towering Eastern White Pine once dominated New England forests and served as an important symbol for Indigenous peoples, but the British Royal Navy’s thirst for tall, straight, trees to use as ship masts eventually led to the destruction of the vast majority of old growth pines in Massachusetts. Join Gwyneth Shanks and AB Brown for a performance piece highlighting Pinus strobus’s dramatic colonial history in which American settlers fought back against King George’s large-scale destruction of their forests, leading to direct resistance, riots, and eventually to the Boston Tea Party itself.

Free