Press and Media

Contact the Arnold Arboretum external relations staff for queries about the institution and its programs, to request print-ready images, or to obtain permission for on-site photography or filming in the Arboretum landscape. Join our mailing list to receive our monthly eNewsletter.

High-resolution images are available upon request. For historical and contemporary images of Arboretum plants, visit our free online resource ArbPIX. To request print-ready versions of ArbPIX images, or to secure usage permission for images held in the Arnold Arboretum Archives, please contact the Library. The Arboretum reserves the right to deny usage and image requests for any reason.

• Visit our news page for news stories and press releases.
• See our annual reports.
• Find information about Lilac Sunday.
• Read or search Arnoldia, the quarterly journal of the Arnold Arboretum.
• Read Silva, the biannual magazine of the Arnold Arboretum.
• See our blogs, including Director’s Posts from the Collections.
• See Arboretum news from the Harvard Gazette.

Weld Hill Solar Power Project “switch-throwing”

Read more about the project in the Harvard Gazette. See our press release [pdf] on the project and its significance to the sustainability and renewable energy goals of the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University, and the City of Boston. The slideshow shares images from our Weld Hill Solar Project “switch-throwing” event on September 12, 2019. Read about the celebratory event in the Harvard Gazette.

Previously in the News

• 2019
• 2018

2019

Researcher receives grant to study how plants choose mates

December 13, 2019

This spring, the greenhouses in the Weld Hill Research Building at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University will be overflowing with Phlox, fragrant flowers bursting with hues of violet, pink, red, and magenta. But it’s not their floral beauty or aroma that captivates Robin Hopkins, assistant professor of organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard.

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Chinese botanists hit trail with Arboretum

November 20, 2019

In a historic collaboration, The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University welcomed Chinese botanists from the North America-China Plant Exploration Consortium (NACPEC) on a joint expedition to the Appalachian Mountains to collect seed from North American plants to grow in scientific plant collections in China. Harvard Gazette»

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Using art to inspire action

September 25, 2019

An Arboretum workshop with Climate Creatives founder Susan Israel on Saturday, September 28 offers a community forum on how individuals can move in creative ways on climate change.

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A flip of the switch to mitigate climate change

September 13, 2019

At a “switch-throwing” ceremony at the Weld Hill Research and Education Building, officials from Harvard University, the city of Boston, and the greater community celebrated the completion of the Arboretum's newest and largest renewable energy project and the push for carbon neutrality by 2050. Read more in the Harvard Gazette.

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Fighting flora with fauna

August 29, 2019

Collaborating with biocontrol scientists at the University of Rhode Island, the Arboretum is employing new research and a Ukrainian moth to fight the invasive black swallow-wort.

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Perfection in miniature

July 26, 2019

Time, knowledge, and experience help the bonsai and penjing collection at the Arnold Arboretum grow and thrive as living works of art.

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It takes a community to make compost

July 19, 2019

Donations from two local businesses are a considerable contribution to the environmentally sustainable composting program the Arboretum tailors to the needs of its collections.

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Boston Ballet dances the night away

June 21, 2019

The Arboretum and the forest-like landscape of its linden collection provided the perfect setting for the Boston Ballet to shoot a promotional spot for its season opener, 'Giselle' and its ghost-filled, romantic milieu of medieval Germany.

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A Worm Named Peanut

May 17, 2019

Boston Public School students discover nature through Field Study Experiences, a unique model that emphasizes hands-on learning in small groups.

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Songwriter carries more than one tune

May 14, 2019

Arboretum Gardener Nima Simimi will receive a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from the Harvard Extension School, culminating a 10-year journey focused on identity, culture, and scholarship.

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‘Pride and Prejudice’ coming to the Arnold Arboretum

May 13, 2019

The Leventritt Shrub and Vine Garden is an apt stand-in for Pemberley as Actors' Shakespeare Project brings a contemporary adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel to the Arboretum landscape on June 23.

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Arboretum gets a solar boost

April 25, 2019

At Weld Hill, the Arboretum is constructing its third and largest solar project, with nearly 1,300 solar panels bringing renewable energy to its advanced research and teaching facility.

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Robin Hopkins receives NSF grant to study speciation

April 15, 2019

A major NSF grant to enhance research, teaching, and public information on topics related to biological diversity has been awarded to Robin Hopkins .

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Photos reveal nature’s wonder at Arnold Arboretum

March 25, 2019

Chris Morgan’s “Transitions: Winter into Spring,” on display through May 5, uses large-scale digital photography to explore the change of seasons at the Arboretum.

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Design course opens students’ eyes to “plant blindness”

February 21, 2019

For three years now, master’s degree candidates in Field Methods and Living Collections, led by Rosetta S. Elkin and the Arboretum’s William “Ned” Friedman, have used social theory and a methodology that examines plant evolution, morphology, built neighborhoods, and landscape design to address “plant blindness”—the human tendency to take plants for granted, reducing them to a green fuzz in the background.

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A growing role as a living lab

January 17, 2019

For scientists like Andrew Groover, the Arnold Arboretum offers direct access to a diversity of living plants, associated data, and laboratory resources that otherwise would be daunting to find in one location. Harvard Gazette»

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2018

Cultivating a wider role for female scientists

November 28, 2018

Although our greenhouse managers Tiffany and Kea have gone into the field on many occasions, this fall was their first exclusively female expedition, marking a turning point for both the Arboretum and women in science. Harvard Gazette»

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The nature of sounds

November 15, 2018

Philosophy, nature, and music come together at the Arboretum on November 17 with a program exploring sounds in nature by scholar, composer, and clarinetist David Rothenberg. Read more in the Harvard Gazette.

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As a backdrop for the movies, it’s a natural

November 1, 2018

The Arnold Arboretum and its trees from around the globe doubled as a Paris park for a scene filmed by Columbia Pictures for its take on Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 “Little Women.”

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The plot, and the fog, thicken

October 23, 2018

More than 1,000 people were in attendance as the Arnold Arboretum's rolling landscape and Fujiko Nakaya’s climate-responsive fog sculpture set the stage for a twilight performance of Shakespeare's famed political thriller, Macbeth.

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Arboretum recognized for two new nationally accredited collections

October 12, 2018

The Arboretum's rich collections of Forsythia and Ginkgo have received national accreditation by the Plant Collections Network, the seventh and eighth genera to be so recognized.

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Fog × Macbeth brings Shakespeare to the Arboretum

October 11, 2018

Fog × Macbeth at the Arnold Arboretum will combine a unique fog installation with a performance of an abridged version of Shakepeare's iconic tragedy by Actors’ Shakespeare Project on October 21. Read more in the Harvard Gazette.

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