You still have time to see the an art show at the Arnold Arboretum featuring two Jamaica Plain painters. "Artists Redux" is an exhibit at the Arnold Arboretum’s Hunnewell Building Gallery in the Visitors Center through March 13 featuring work by JP painters Ginny Zanger and Lizi Brown. The Hunnewell Building is open every day 10 am to 4 pm
Looking for something unusual and eye-catching in the winter landscape? A hidden gem you might not be familiar with is Pinus bungeana, known commonly as lacebark pine. The bark of the species offers quite a vivid display—mottled and multi-colored, its hues graduate from white to gray, yellow, green, purple, and orange. As a bonus, the bark peels off in amorphous shapes, revealing more yellow bark beneath the surface which changes color by exposure to light. Flakes or plates of bark fall onto the ground beneath the tree like puzzle pieces, exposing new layers.
The Arnold Arboretum will display five proposed concepts for its entrance improvement project at a Jan. 21 meeting. The Arnold Arboretum is hosting an open house for the project on Jan. 21 from noon to 3 pm at the Weld Hill Research Building (1300 Centre St., Roslindale). Landscape design firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates will be present to discuss the project, and the five proposed concepts for five entrances, and provide feedback on the designs.
January may be cold, but there's lots of action at the Arnold Arboretum this month. Check out this list of events:
Winter Wellness Walk -- Sunday, Jan. 8, 1-2 pm
Stay connected to nature and enjoy the health benefits of a winter walk at the Arnold Arboretum. Docents will cover seasonal interest, Arboretum history, and plant collections. After the tour, warm up with a hot drink and further conversation with the docent and Arboretum Visitor Staff.
Enjoy some serenity with a babbling icy stream in the Arnold Arboretum. Also, check out some photos during sunset, and a red-tail hawk who wasn't shy about showing their feathers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWvAxmfxaP0&feature=youtu.be
“Ice flowers?” Never heard of them. That is, until last Tuesday, when the buzz at the Arboretum was all about the ice flowers on Isodon henryi (593-2010*A; 鄂西香茶菜), a Chinese perennial herbaceous plant in the mint family. Needless to say, I was there first thing the next morning! And this is what I saw. Word on the street is that you need air temperatures below freezing and soil temperatures above freezing.
Carefully unfolding sheets of newspaper, I reveal tissue-thin dried blossoms of pressed lilac flowers, the rich purples and blues of their inflorescences faded to soft pastels. Despite the rigorous preservation process they have undergone, the powerful aroma of lilacs still permeates the air. The scent takes me back to the weeks leading up to the Arnold Arboretum’s annual celebration of Lilac Sunday, when I spent days collecting flower specimens while enveloped in their perfume. Pressing plants for preservation—a leaf with bright fall color folded in a wallet, a flower from a gifted bouquet pressed in a heavy book—is a tradition as old as time. By the 1500s, the word “herbarium” was adopted to refer to a scientific collection of pressed plant cuttings mounted onto paper.
Every year the community is invited to submit designs for the annual Lilac Sunday t-shirt. This year's deadline for submissions is Dec. 18. Artists of all ages are welcome to submit their designs, and the winning selection will be printed on t-shirts for adults and children that will available on Lilac Sunday: May 14, 2023. Submissions will be evaluated based on "how well they reflect the spirit, history, and beauty of Lilac Sunday at the Arboretum."
The Arnold Arboretum and the horticultural community of Massachusetts lost a good friend, tireless advocate, and philanthropic partner with the death of Willard P. Hunnewell, Sr. on November 8. Willard, who celebrated his 101st birthday last June, will be remembered at the Arboretum as a devoted steward of his family’s long legacy of participation with the Arnold Arboretum, particularly as a champion of the Isabella Welles Hunnewell Internship Program. Willard Peele Hunnewell was born June 1, 1921 to Walter Welles Hunnewell and his wife Minna Lyman Hunnewell, and was the great-grandson of Arnold Arboretum benefactor and nineteenth-century horticultural pioneer H. H. Hunnewell. He graduated from Harvard University in 1943, served as a navigator for the U.S. Navy in the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters of World War II. Willard was the owner of the Apco Mossberg Company, maker of precision instruments, torque tools, and machined parts.
From 2010–2012, I served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in a small Ukrainian town. In 2017, my wife (who also served in Ukraine) and I returned for a visit. We met with Natalia, a dear friend, and former colleague, at the school where I once worked. Together, we walked the old paths connecting nearby villages through the surrounding forest. It was a crisp, September day.