Animals

Photo: Rare Fisher Cat Sighting in Arnold Arboretum!

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Ben Achtenberg was able to snap a rare photograph of a fisher cat in Bussey Brook Meadow in the Arnold Arboretum on Halloween. Fishers are solitary hunters and not commonly seen. They primarily prey on snowshoe hares and porcupines, according to wikipedia. They also eat insects, nuts, berries, and mushrooms.

Scientists have found evidence of birds, small mammals and even deer, which would indicate they're also scavengers and will eat carrion. While not common, fishers have also been known to kill wild turkeys.

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Arnold Arboretum

Welcoming the Public: The Arboretum’s Entrances

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Today the Arnold Arboretum welcomes visitors through a number of gates and less formal entrances located around the three mile perimeter of the landscape. They provide open access to the beauty of the grounds throughout the year, from dawn to dusk. The Archives of the Arnold Arboretum holds a collection of images of Frederick Law Olmsted’s earliest designs for the Arboretum’s road system and entrances. These early designs show how Olmsted’s thinking evolved into the landscape we enjoy today. Designing the Road System
Olmsted’s first sketches of the Arboretum grounds show a very different looking road system.

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Arnold Arboretum

Abilities Dance Boston Performing at Arnold Arboretum on Sept. 17

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Abilities Dance Boston will shine at the Arnold Arboretum landscape with a performance on Sept. 17. Abilities Dance Boston was commissioned to "create pieces inspired by the history and landscape of the Arboretum and celebrate equitable public land use for all through an intersectional disability lens." The company will bring original musical scores, choreography, audio descriptions, ASL, and CART to make its performance accessible in the spirit of universal design enjoyed by all, according to the Arboretum's website. Music will be composed by Erin Rogers and performed live by the New England Film Orchestra.

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Arnold Arboretum

A Solar Pollinator Meadow Takes Root at Weld Hill in Arnold Arboretum

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Last year, the horticulture staff at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University planted a new pollinator meadow at the Arboretum’s Weld Hill Research and Administration Building. Wild-collected seeds of native perennials were sown beneath, between, and around an array of 1,152 solar panels, envisioned as an ecological and technological experiment. As these plants come into their own this season, the Weld Hill landscape champions two of the Arboretum’s key sustainability initiatives—increasing the capture and use of renewable energy and enhancing habitat for urban pollinators and other wildlife. Now in its second growing season, the solar meadow at Weld Hill teems with more than 30 species of native, wild-collected flowers and grasses. This number will increase through additional plantings over the coming years.

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Arnold Arboretum

A Changing Climate Inspires ‘Restoration’ at Arnold Arboretum

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Artist Ethan Murrow grew up on a farm in Vermont, working the land and experiencing both the natural world and the impact humans have on it. Collaborating with the Arnold Arboretum through the climate advocacy group ActionPact Boston, Murrow brings his passion and concern for the environment to an art installation in our landscape that evokes our relationship with ecology both here and, more broadly, around the world. Action Pact Boston invited six local artists to create temporary artworks that reflect their own interpretation of climate change. Murrow’s Restoration sprawls across a gentle slope on the south side of Peters Hill, just within the entrance at Mendum Street Gate. Assisted by the Arboretum’s horticulture crew, ActionPact Boston’s Jim Olson and Annie Lundsten, and assistant Nick Papa, Murrow assembled a new tree from mismatched parts—logs and limbs from trees that have been pruned or removed from the world-renowned collections at the Arboretum.

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Environment

Arnold Arboretum Trees for English High School

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While students from Boston Public Schools visit the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University for field trips to learn about trees, this Arbor Day the Arboretum brought trees to Boston students. In honor of the Arboretum’s 150th anniversary, three trees from the Arboretum’s nurseries were planted with students and teachers at two Boston Public high schools. Organized to teach students about trees and tree care and to beautify their school campuses, the tree plantings also offered an opportunity to foster collaboration between the Arboretum and local schools and introduce students to plant-related careers. At Jamaica Plain's English High School, an 11th grade class taught by Thomas Hayes helped Arboretum staff plant a Judd cherry tree (Prunus × juddii), an ornamental cultivar introduced by the Arboretum and named for an early propagator. As the tree was planted in a sunny corner of the school’s track and field—where it will shade spectators and fatigued runners—students expressed their excitement to care for the tree in its crucial first year and leave their mark on their alma mater.

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Arnold Arboretum

Lilac Sunday Returning to Arnold Arboretum After Two-Year Hiatus

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The Arnold Arboretum came into existence on March 29, 1872, and is marking 150 years of preserving biodiversity and connecting plants and people. As part of the anniversary celebrations, the Arnold Arboretum welcomes everyone to the first public-observance of its traditional Lilac Sunday event since 2019. In addition, Arnold Arboretum Director William (Ned) Friedman announces a slate of both virtual and in-person talks on sesquicentennial themes entitled The Magic and Meaning of a Garden of Trees. The spring season kicks off on May 1 with the reopening of the Arnold Arboretum Visitor Center in the Hunnewell Building, and accelerates with the approach of Lilac Sunday on May 8. A beloved tradition in Boston for well over a century, Lilac Sunday will return on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 8, after a two-year pause during the pandemic.

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Arnold Arboretum

Celebrate Arnold Arboretum’s Sesquicentennial on March 29

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The Arnold Arboretum will be celebrating it sesquicentennial with a special in-person and virtual event on March 29. The Arnold Arboretum was founded on Friday, March 29, 1872. Exactly 150 years later, the Arnold Arboretum is inviting you to hear Lisa Pearson, Head of the Arboretum Library and Archives, for a special sesquicentennial lecture. Pearson will discuss the earliest benefactors of the Arnold Arboretum, the events that led to the founding of the institution, and the busy first two decades during which the infrastructure and living collections were installed at the arboretum. This event will be at the Arboretum's Weld Hill Research Building (1300 Centre St., Roslindale) on Tuesday, March 29, 2 to 3 pm.

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Animals

The Arnold Arboretum’s Feeding Curiosity About Birds

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The Arnold Arboretum’s collections provide year round sustenance and habitat for a host of wildlife, including many bird species. The Arnold Arboretum's Public Programs department complements these natural resources by adding winter bird feeders. Visiting birds and birders alike have long enjoyed the feeding station at the Hunnewell Visitor Center. However, two new stations now feature in the landscape. Look for one atop Bussey Hill and the second along Conifer Path.

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Environment

Why Aren’t Arboretum Roads Salted?

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Each snowfall brings many visitors to the Arnold Arboretum, drawn to the landscape as a beautiful haven for skiing, sledding, snowshoeing, snowboarding, as well as walking and running. As soon as the snow begins to fall, our staff is mobilized to clear snow and keep our roads passable. On these snowy days, visitors occasionally ask why we don’t use deicing salts to clear interior Arboretum roads. The short answer is that concern for the long-term health of our plants and the soil they grow in requires employing different approaches than those used outside our gates. Salt Contamination and Plants
The rock salt used on city streets excels in removing snow and ice. However, resulting saltwater runoff can also harm plants, especially trees and shrubs.

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