Lilac Sunday celebrates 110 years in Boston with events from 10am–3pm Pack a picnic…it’s Lilac Sunday! For 110 years, families have made the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University a premier destination to welcome the arrival of the flowering season in Boston. The annual observance of Lilac Sunday—this year celebrated on Sunday, May 13—centers on the […]
An interesting byproduct of planting related species side by side is that pollinating insects can become unwitting hybridizers. Such was certainly the case with one of the Arboretum’s most famous introductions, Hamamelis × intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’. A beautiful and vigorous witch hazel, ‘Arnold Promise’ was named to honor the place where it began, a happy […]
As a partner in the educational mission of Harvard University, the Arnold Arboretum leverages its landscape, collections, and learning resources to support undergraduate education. Arboretum-based faculty and researchers, state-of-the-art laboratories, and the living collections provide field experiences for diverse Harvard classes ranging from the biology of plants and urban ecology to landscape design and even […]
Three consecutive nor’easters in March left their mark on the renowned tree collections at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, with some 30 Arboretum accessions lost or slated for removal due to major damage. The most devastating of the three storms at the Arboretum was the first, Winter Storm Riley, which slammed Boston and much […]
Arboretum scientists have pinpointed how mother plants of a water lily species take control of rearing offspring, part of a 25-year quest to understand how mothers and fathers interact in the creation of a flowering plant seed.
In 1861, Dr. George Rogers Hall of Rhode Island sent the first shipment of living plants from Japan to New England. Consigned to Harvard historian and horticulturist Francis Parkman, the plants were cultivated with great success in his garden in Jamaica Plain. Hall returned from Yokohama a year later, bringing more plants with him. Some […]
Peter Del Tredici, Senior Research Scientist Emeritus at the Arboretum, co-authored a study on the discovery of a new hemlock from Korea. The first novel conifer species to be described in a decade, the Ulleungdo hemlock interests biologists and horticulturists due to its natural resistance to the hemlock woolly adelgid.
Scientists estimate that food supplies will need to double by 2050 to meet demand. In greenhouse experiments conducted at the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard researchers discovered a way to more than double crop size by introducing a soil bacterium that converts nitrogen from the atmosphere into robust and sustainable fertilizer.
Thank you. A timely reminder to get to a local park to see (...)
Thanks for the info and
It is sad to read the list of Living Collections losses. As (...)
