Study Trees with Ease at Arnold Arboretum

The following article was originally published on the Arnold Arboretum's website and is republished here with permission from the Arnold Arboretum. The Arnold Arboretum is an outdoor classroom and community resource for education that connects our community with trees and the natural world. Public programs like practical classes, workshops, talks, and special tours are free to all and leverage the unique knowledge and expertise of staff, volunteers, and external instructors—so they can fill-up quickly, meaning online registration has felt a bit like the Hunger Games to some. Fear not, though, because signing up for a class at the Arnold Arboretum just got a whole lot easier. As part of ongoing efforts to improve accessibility for all, the Arboretum has unveiled an improved program registration system offering many exciting new features and user capabilities.

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December Storm Generates Loss and Renewal at Arnold Arboretum

On December 18, more than two inches of rain and wind gusts exceeding 50 miles per hour wreaked significant damage to trees in the Arnold Arboretum. Nearly 40 accessioned plants were lost across the landscape, many uprooted or—in the case of nearly a dozen hemlocks—snapped in half. While the storm was formidable in terms of tree loss and the enormity of the continuing clean-up effort, the immediate and coordinated response of the Arboretum’s horticultural team ensured safety for visitors and renewal for the plants either lost or severely compromised. It was an unusual event in many respects, breaking records for highest minimum and maximum temperature for the day and generating some of the strongest winds—outside of thunderstorms—seen in Boston in a decade. “When intense wind is accompanied by heavy rain—which softens the ground and further compromises the ability of older or compromised trees to anchor themselves—we tend to see the most damage inflicted on the collections,” said Rodney Eason, Director of Horticulture and Landscape.

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Genetic Mutation Discovered at Arnold Arboretum Gives Rise to a New Cultivar

Among the wonderful benefits of the Arnold Arboretum—where plants gathered from around the world grow side-by-side under the watchful care of staff experts—is that when something interesting or unusual happens, it typically gets noticed. Case in point is a spontaneous mutation of a single branch (or sport) of an Eastern redbud tree in the Arboretum’s collection first observed by a staff member in 2009. After more than a decade of research and testing, the Arboretum has introduced a beautiful new redbud cultivar, Cercis canadensis ‘Arnold Banner’, published last month in HortScience magazine. What sets ‘Arnold Banner’ apart from other Eastern redbuds, which are distributed across a wide swath of the eastern U.S. from New England to Florida and west to Texas and northeastern Mexico, is its flower color—or rather, the almost total absence of color. This species in the pea family grows as a large shrub or small tree and is known for its pink to magenta clusters of flowers that appear in early spring before the plant leafs out.

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Stop and Smell the Ginkgoes

If you've been walking around parts of Jamaica Plain, you've no doubt come across the smell of gingko trees' berries. Ned Friedman, the director of the Arnold Arboretum wrote about the trees in a recent email newsletter:

The following is by Friedman:
When I look at these pictures, I can practically smell them! And my hope is that you will take my advice and go smell for yourself. Because no one can be said to truly know the ginkgo without experiencing the aroma/stench of the seeds right about now. Ginkgo biloba is a dioecious species, with separate seed-bearing trees and pollen-producing trees.

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Remember to Check for Ticks, Even in Jamaica Plain

Hours after having strolled through the Arnold Arboretum this past weekend, one of my family members discovered a tick on his body that was already trying to embed itself. It's easy to think that ticks aren't in Boston because we're in an urban setting, but it is tick season, and Jamaica Plain is one of the most wooded neighborhoods. While not all fully in JP, the Arnold Arboretum is approximately 281 acres, Franklin Park is 485 acres, and the Forest Hills Cemetery is 250 acres. Through the years, I've seen deer in all three locations. Usually it's just one or two deer at a time, although the most I've was four deer enjoying the arboretum together.

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Jamaica Pond Closed Due to Dangerous Algae Bloom

It's happened before, and it's happened again, a dangerous algae bloom has closed Jamaica Pond. That means no boating, no fishing, and don't let your dogs go in or near the water, or on shore. The Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) announced the closure on Oct. 6 due to a suspected bloom of blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria. The blooms may produce toxins that can make people and pets sick.

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Return to the Field: Arnold Arboretum Staff Goes Plant Collecting in Japan

For more than a century, the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University has conducted plant collecting expeditions across the temperate world to study biodiversity and amass a first-rate collection of trees, shrubs, and vines in Boston. This autumn, the Arnold Arboretum resumed this historic work with a collecting expedition to Japan, resuming international field work for the first time since the global pandemic. The two-week trek through forests across seven Japanese prefectures yielded 20 species of woody plants representing important research and conservation targets for the Arboretum. The expedition was planned and organized by the Arboretum’s assistant curator Miles Schwartz Sax, who joined Keeper of the Living Collections Michael Dosmann on the journey. Starting off in mid September, Michael and Miles were joined by Mineaki Aizawa, Associate Professor in the Department of Forestry at Utsunomiya University and undergraduate student Yoshinari Hata.

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Bridle Path Reimagined: 2023 Hunnewell Internship Project

The following article was originally published on the Arnold Arboretum's website, and has been republished on JamaicaPlainNews.com with permission from the arboretum. The 2023 cohort of Hunnewell horticulture interns at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University spent some of their summer restoring and renewing a historic pathway between the Hunnewell Building lawn and Leventritt Shrub & Vine Garden. The Arboretum’s first bridle path, named so because it was created as a thoroughfare for horseback riders, was laid out in 1928. Over the past century, as institutional priorities shifted, maintenance and use of the path declined. Revitalizing the bridle path offered the interns the opportunity to improve visitor access, restore areas damaged by poor traffic control, and re-envision planting designs to align with the Arboretum’s current curatorial practices.

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Emerald Necklace Conservancy Wants to Hear From You

The Emerald Necklace Conservancy wants to know about your parks experience and insights to help plan for its future. How do you use the Emerald Necklace? Do you bicycle, walk, play on athletic fields, walk your dog? Take this brief anonymous survey (about 5 minutes) to say what you want to see in the parks. Through the survey, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy is hoping to learn about how Boston area residents – ages 15 and older – use the park and how it can be even better. The Emerald Necklace Conservancy is a non-profit that works with communities, government and funders to improve the Olmsted-designed Emerald Necklace parks for all.

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Renewing Olmsted’s Promise with New Arborway Entrance at Arnold Arboretum

A recent forum at Weld Hill explored the history, philosophy, and future of the Arboretum’s entrances. A gate is much more than a piece of infrastructure. It’s also an archetype, and an ambivalent one—a portal that’s also a barrier, an impediment masquerading as an entrance. The Arnold Arboretum features nineteen entrances situated around its three-mile perimeter—entryways to the landscape that come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from backyard stiles in Roslindale to the broad, swinging, wrought-iron gates that open on the Arborway and South Street. The Arboretum’s Entrance Improvement Project seeks to renew and improve the Arboretum’s many entrances to provide a safe, accessible, and welcoming experience for all visitors.

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