Featured Plants & Areas of Interest

Fresh green leaves are still emerging and the parade of spring color continues with tulip trees, horse chestnuts, tree peonies, viburnums, azaleas, rhododendrons, and many others.  Make sure to visit the Rhododendron Dell near the South Street Gate, the Arboretum’s core collection of hybrid and evergreen rhododendrons.

Guided Tours

See how much the Arboretum has to offer when you tour the landscape with one of our knowledgeable docents or expert staff. Tours are free and open to the public, and cover different areas of the collections and landscape. Landscape tours take place every Monday, Thursday and  Saturday at 10:30am and Sunday at 1:00pm. See the calendar for all upcoming tours.

Tree of the Month

Check out June’s Tree of the Month, Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree) [pdf]. The tulip tree is easily recognized in almost any season. In the summer it’s unique truncated leaf shape and pale green flowers resemble tulips, giving rise to its common name. Use your mobile device to search our interactive digital map, ArbExplorer, to locate Tulipifera in our landscape.

Visitor Center

Stop by the Visitor Center (located in the Hunnewell Building) and learn more about the Arboretum’s collections, history, and events. Need advice on where to explore? Friendly and experienced Visitor Engagement staff will suggest walking routes, answer questions, and share their Arboretum knowledge. This month, Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord’s Spirit Books will be displayed in the Visitor Center, bridging the inherent spirituality and mystery of nature with the historical tradition of books as testaments of faith and belief. Gaylord gathers twigs, branches, vines, and roots, then uses them to cradle her stitched, wordless books. Incorporating beads and seeds with handmade papers from around the world, she constructs sculptural altars; the supports of natural materials are as integral to the art as the beautiful books they cradle.

Classes and Lectures

Hear renowned speakers discuss topics, participate in stimulating discussions, and gain insight into some of the most fascinating areas of science, horticulture, landscape design, and ecology. Prefer a more hands-on experience? Register for a class or workshop and learn how to prune a plant, grow a mushroom, or upgrade your home garden. See the calendar for upcoming classes and lectures.

Art at the Arboretum

Impressions of Woody Plants: Disjunction, Two Artists, and the Arnold Arboretum
Copper Etchings by Bobbie Angell and Watercolor Paintings by Beverly Duncan
On display in the Hunnewell Lecture Hall; May 11 through July 22, 2018.

The word disjunction, defined as the relationship between two distinct alternatives, can be applied to botanical artists Bobbi Angell and Beverly Duncan: their media–copper and watercolor; their plant focuses–exotic and native; their backgrounds–botany and art. In the end though, as in this Arnold Arboretum exhibition, it is all about the wonder of woody plants, and the artists’ approaches to creating images. Angell is attracted to unusual, cultivated specimens due to her long history working with botanists and horticulturalists. Her subjects, all Asian natives, several of which were introduced into cultivation by the Arboretum, represent the remarkable history of plant collecting around the world. All can be found in the collections of the Arboretum. Her drawings are developed into finely crafted copper etchings, which are then printed in limited editions. Duncan, on the other hand, is drawn to the familiarity of native plants. She translates the common and recognizable into intimate portraits in detailed watercolor paintings. Her sketches capture the various stages in the life of a native plant. For this exhibition, Duncan focused on paintings of seedlings, the delicate early life of a tree or shrub. All her subjects can also be found as mature trees on the grounds of the Arnold Arboretum.

Bobbi Angell has been drawing plants since 1978, illustrating floras, monographs, and new species for botanists at The New York Botanical Garden, Harvard University, and Smithsonian Institution. Drawing herbarium specimens has been the focus of her work. Angell’s copper plate etchings reflect her interest in fine detail, and offer a satisfying and natural extension of her compositional style. Beverly Duncan is an award-winning botanical artist, the first to receive Best in Show at the annual exhibition of the Horticultural Society in New York and the American Society of Botanical Artists. Her work was recognized at the 2014 Royal Horticultural Exhibit in London, and is in corporate and private collections around the world. She teaches botanical drawing and painting, and has contributed illustrations to numerous books and magazines.

All art shows are free and open to the public. The Lecture Hall is also used for lectures, programs, meetings, and school groups, so please call 617.384.5209 for exhibition availability.