The Arnold Arboretum is a 281-acre museum of living plants, and summer is the perfect time to explore. From learning about important topics in classes and lectures, to engaging volunteer programs that build knowledge and community, to opportunities that promote health and well being outdoors: the Arboretum strives to cultivate a deeper appreciation of nature […]
The Arnold Arboretum serves humanity as a premier destination for deepening understanding and appreciation of the plant kingdom. The Horticultural Library contributes significantly to this mission, stewarding a research collection of some 25,000 volumes on botany, horticulture, urban forestry, and more. The Library also houses the Arnold Arboretum Archives, which preserves and shares the Arboretum’s […]
In a living collection comprising thousands of distinctive plants from around the world, bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla) makes quite a big impression. Living up to its common and scientific names (“macrophylla” literally means “big leaf” in Latin), bigleaf magnolia bears the largest simple leaf (up to 30 inches long) and flowers (up to a foot […]
As a partner in the educational mission of Harvard University, the Arboretum leverages its 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. A summer short course connects students with […]
From flowers and fruits to bark and branching, discover the Arnold Arboretum on a themed tour this summer.
April 26 is the birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of American landscape architecture. In 1877, he partnered with Arboretum Founding Director Charles Sprague Sargent to design the Arnold Arboretum, two decades after his landmark design for New York’s Central Park and one year before he began work on Boston’s Emerald Necklace. The Arboretum’s […]
Each spring the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University offers a research fellowship and a number of awards to support independent research projects submitted by students, post-doctoral researchers, and biological and horticultural science professionals. Stemming from the Arboretum’s mission to support and facilitate scientific inquiry and knowledge sharing about the plant kingdom, these opportunities enable researchers […]
As a center for plant science, the Arnold Arboretum contributes to the study of our changing planet. At Weld Hill, state-of-the-art laboratories and tools enable researchers to investigate how plants will respond to changes like higher concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere. An ongoing project with Boston University collects data on nitrogen and other atmospheric […]
From the original Frederick Law Olmsted paper map imagining “Harvard’s Arboretum” to advanced satellite navigation systems that track our landscape on your desktop or mobile device, mapping is fundamental to documenting our 281-acre landscape and plant collections. Historical maps highlight our legacy of plant exploration and depict the development of the Arboretum, including a grid […]
![Tibetan house in Sertar [Seke]](https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/ree_woodstonehouse_tibet_1997-60x60.jpg)
I have many, many of these in my compost pile in (...)
Wow, Acer pycnanthum! ... maybe Mount Hope Cemetery in (...)
Lovely tribute, lyrical
