Join plant biologist and author Beronda Montgomery for a discussion of her new book, “When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy.” Montgomery explores the way that eight trees and shrubs testify to the experience of black Americans, from sycamores that acted as landmarks for those trying to escape slavery, to pecan propagation spearheaded by an enslaved African woman, to the traditional medicinal uses of willow bark in black communities. Montgomery takes us through black American history with trees and shrubs as our guides.

Introduced diseases are sweeping across New England Forests, from the deadly beech leaf disease to the new laurel wilt threatening sassafras and spicebush shrubs. Join UMass Extension Plant Pathologist Nicholas J. Brazee for a talk on these diseases, how they are impacting New England forests, and what researchers and management teams are doing about it.

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.

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.