Arnold Arboretum

Gardening for Butterflies and Moths

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Colin McCallum-Cook, Horticultural Technologist

Learn how to attract butterflies and moths to your garden and cater to their unique lifecycle requirements in this program focused exclusively on lepidopteran-friendly gardening techniques. Lepidopteran conservation in New England is more important than ever, as many formerly common species are now threatened with extirpation. Colin McCallum-Cook will also show you how to use citizen science applications to monitor species in your garden and contribute valuable data to the cause of lepidopteran conservation. Fee $32

Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

Arnold Arboretum

Get Your Hands Dirty! – Soil Science

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Arnold Arboretum Staff and Volunteers

Sunday, June 23 2019, 2:00pm-4:00pm
Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Lawn 

This is part of the new Science in Our Park Series. Come to the Arnold Arboretum and be a scientist! Get your hands onto scientific tools, use your observation skills and share your findings with others. Get Your Hands Dirty will allow you to stick your hands into the soil and really get to know it. You will have a chance to use digital probes, collect data and then share that data with other scientists for a day.

Arnold Arboretum

Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees

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William Bryant Logan, Certified Arborist, Founder and President of Urban Arborists, Inc., and Author

Thursday, June 27, 6:30–7:45pm
Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Building

When his company was asked to pollard trees in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, William Bryant Logan was stymied. This prompted him to research and learn this ancient way of pruning that prompts thick nests of sprouts to form on major branches. The irony here is that pollarding (and the similar practice of coppicing) had been the preeminent way in which humans had tended trees–from the last ice age to the Industrial Revolution. What would have seemed the most mundane of tasks to a villager in the Middle Ages had slipped from use, and even memory, in the twenty first century. Hear Logan speak of the many ways in which these lost ancient arts (including pruning, hazel creating living hedges, growing oak for ships) created and supported human cultures all over the world and how we once lived closely as partners with trees, as we can only hope to do again.

Arnold Arboretum

Bonsai Behind the Curtain: Uncovering Their Care and Cultivation

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Tiffany Enzenbacher, Manager of Plant Production

Wednesday, June 26, 5:30-6:30pm
Arnold Arboretum,  Larz Anderson Bonsai Collection

Join Manager of Plant Production, Tiffany Enzenbacher, for an evening exploration into the oldest dwarfed plant collection in the United States. As one of the caretakers of the Arboretum's bonsai collection, Tiffany will highlight many of the procedures used by staff to maintain the health of these captivating specimens. For cancellations due to weather, call 617 384-5209

Free, registration is requested and limited at my.arboretum.harvard.edu

Arnold Arboretum

Growing Woody Plants from Softwood Cuttings

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Tiffany Enzenbacher, Manager of Plant Production Arnold Arboretum

Wednesday, June 12, 5:30–7:30pm
Location: Dana Greenhouse, Arnold Arboretum

Hydrangea and Cherry and Willow, oh my! Join Manager of Plant Production Tiffany Enzenbacher to learn how to propagate woody plants from summer cuttings. Students will collect and stick cuttings of several landscape plants. Cuttings will be rooted at the greenhouse to be retrieved later for transplanting into the registrant’s garden or potted up into small containers. Fee for all materials is included in the cost of the class.

Arnold Arboretum

Compost Compendium

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Conor Guidarelli, Horticulturist, Arnold Arboretum

Thursday, June 6, 6:00–8:00pm
Location: Hunnewell Building and Landscape

Horticulturist Conor Guidarelli manages the Arnold Arboretum’s organic materials recycling area and has recently improved the production and quality of the resulting compost. Conor will discuss the components of compost and the nutrients that can be returned to a site when compost is applied. He will explain the mix of brown to green materials, moisture, and aeration. Class participants will start in the classroom and then travel to the Arboretum’s materials yard to see compost in various stages of development. Fee $20 member, $30 nonmember

Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

Arnold Arboretum

Identifying Ferns of the Arnold Arboretum

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Jacob Suissa, Fellow, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University

Saturday, June 1, 9:30am–12:30pm
Location: Weld Hill Research Building and Arboretum Landscape

Considering its size and location New England has a relatively rich flora of ferns and fern allies (clubmosses, spikemosses, and quillworts). While it is possible to see almost all these species somewhere in the state of Massachusetts, several can be found at the Arnold Arboretum. Fern specialist Jacob Suissa will teach the anatomy, reproduction, and key identifying characters that will help you to identify the ferns and fern allies of the Arboretum and New England. Participants will begin indoors at the Arboretum’s Weld Hill Research Building with a lecture and then move outdoors to Hemlock Hill and Bussey Brook for a fern foray. Dress for indoor and outdoor learning.

Arnold Arboretum

Landscape Plant Selection, Planting, and Establishment

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Andrew Gapinski, Head of Horticulture, Arnold Arboretum

1 Session: Saturday, May 4, 1:00–3:30pm
Location: Hunnewell Building and Landscape

Ensuring the long-term health of your landscape starts with healthy plants from the nursery, proper site selection and preparation, and sound planting and establishment. Andrew Gapinski will discuss professional standards and techniques, along with common issues and solutions for both balled-and-burlapped and containerized specimens. He will focus on landscape trees, shrubs, and perennials – ornamental annuals and vegetables will not be covered in this offering. Class will start indoors and then move outdoors to the Dana Greenhouse Nursery. Fee: $30 member, $42 nonmember

Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

Gardening

The English Garden: Perfection on Earth – An Evening with Curt DiCamillo

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In this lavishly illustrated talk, noted historian Curt DiCamillo will discuss the development of the English landscape tradition and demonstrate why the English garden has often been called Britain’s single most important contribution to world culture. Though the earliest English gardens were planted by Roman conquerors in the 1st century AD, the English garden as we know it today is a designed landscape style that was first developed in early 18th century England as part of the setting surrounding a grand English country house. So successful was this English innovation that it quickly spread throughout Europe, becoming the dominant gardening style, replacing the formalized, symmetrical French style of gardening—itself based on Italian Renaissance examples. Though indebted to the earlier fashions that had reigned supreme for centuries, the newly-developed and uniquely English garden was a stylistic breakthrough, the likes of which had never before been seen in Europe. Often called “educated nature” by its proponents, this innovative English garden style offered an idealized view of nature influenced by the landscape paintings of Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin.

Gardening

Jamaica Plain Garden Tour

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We're delighted to present the first annual Jamaica Plain Garden Tour! Come enjoy unique access to over twenty private gardens in the Sumner Hill and Central neighborhoods of JP, an area full of charming historical homes and lush perennial gardens. Sites along the route range from creative urban spaces to formal gardens in the English style, to rambling woodland landscapes. Many are hidden gems which you might never otherwise see, featuring beautiful stonework, water elements, and rare specimen plants. Our gratitude goes to the garden owners for opening up these magical spaces in support of the Trustees' 56 community gardens and parks citywide.