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    Gardening for Butterflies and Moths

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    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, Horticultural Technologist, 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.

    Cost: $25 for...

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    Angiosperms and Gymnosperms: The Basics

    Location: 

    Centre Street Gate, Arnold Arboretum, Boston

    What better place to look for the differences between angiosperms (plants that flower and have enclosed seeds), and gymnosperms (plants with "naked seeds," including conifers, ginkgos, and others), than in the Arnold Arboretum landscape, where over 15,000 plants reside in a living museum. Join our guide as she points out trees in both groups and describes the characteristics of each.

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    Free Fun Friday at the Arnold Arboretum

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    As part of the Highland Street Foundation's Free Fun Fridays! program, enjoy free activities at the Arnold Arboretum like:

    • Arborist Station: Meet an Arboretum arborist and see them in action. Try on arborist protective gear and get up close and personal with the special tools used by arborists.
    • Watercolor Station:  Become inspired by the beauty of the Arboretum and use...
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    Morning Yoga at the Arboretum

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building Lawn, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Improve your health and well-being with yoga. We will practice poses, breathing and meditation in the tranquil setting of the Arnold Arboretum.

    This event is cosponsored by the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, and the National Park Service Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.

    In the case of inclement weather, the session will move indoors (Hunnewell Building Lecture Hall)....

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    Art Workshop: Making Art in the Landscape

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Join Paul Olson, the Arnold Arboretum's exhibiting artist of Drawn to Paint, for a sketching workshop "en plein air" (outside, in the landscape). Olson, an instructor at Mass College of Art and RISD, will focus on teaching you to sketch trees from direct observation outdoors. He will encourage you to think about simplifying your design with just the essential shapes to make a good composition in light pencil. Then, you can use ink and water for an expressive tonal image. Bring pencils and sketchbooks; some supplies will be available.

    Cost: $10 for...

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    The Substance of Soil

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Soil is the basis of survival. Without soil, humans and most other living beings could not exist. Conor Guidarelli, who has dug deep into the soils of the Arnold Arboretum will present an overview of soil, from its formation and components to its properties. He will discuss ways to analyze soil quality and health to determine whether or not amendments are needed based on the soil outcome or use desired.

    Participants are encouraged to bring a pint glass jar with about a cup of soil in it to class.

    Cost: $20 for members; $30 for nonmembers.

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    Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Once, farmers knew how to prune trees in a way that, instead of destroying them, led to robust and sustained growth – of the trees and of the communities that utilized them. 

    Rediscover this lost art that sustained human life and culture for ten millennia in this talk with arborist William Bryant Logan. William offers us both practical knowledge about how to live with trees to mutual benefit and hope that humans may again learn what the persistence and generosity of trees can teach.

    Cost: Free for members; $5 for nonmembers.

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    Bonsai Behind the Curtain: Uncovering Their Care and Cultivation

    Location: 

    Larz Anderson Bonsai Collection, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Join Manager of Plant Production, Tiffany Enzenbacher, for an evening of 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.

    Learn more about and register for Bonsai Behind the...

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    The Art of Botanical Prose

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    All writers must contend with translation. A poet translates the movement of a dancing figure into a brief couplet, and an essayist translates the noise and commotion of the city where she lives into a single paragraph. The three-dimensional world filters into text, and when done especially well—the realm of literature and art—readers often forget that translation has even occurred.

    In this talk, Jonathan Damery, the associate editor for Arnoldia, will provide a readerly tour through horticultural and botanical reference books, encouraging readers to see the artistic endeavor...

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    Get Your Hands Dirty!—Soil Science

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Lawn, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    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.

    One adult may bring a maximum of three children; suitable for children ages five and up.

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    In the Groves: A Summer Solstice Journey

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building and Arboretum Landscape, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Join us for an enchanting evening of Tree Myths, Songs and Summer Solstice Legends. Attendees will hear tales of the human connection with trees and the deep meaning we have assigned to them through the ages. This unique performance, designed specifically for the Arnold Arboretum, travels through the Arboretum with story and music. Each story is told under a different tree or among a unique collection of Arboretum plants, culminating with the haunting Czech legend “The Wild Woman of the Birch Grove” told amid the birches at sunset. Appropriate for adults and for children twelve years and...

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    Peters Hill: Discover the Other End of the Arboretum

    Location: 

    Peters Hill Gate, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Join our docent for a tour of the other end of the Arnold Arboretum, the southern end. Peters Hill became part of the Arboretum in 1894 and continues to charm with its special character, collections, and history. In summer, the amazing view from the summit takes in the Boston skyline and a rich and textured landscape spreading out below you. Learn the history of the land, along with information on the woody plants located here.

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    Guided Tour: Medicinal Plants at the Arnold Arboretum

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    The Leventritt Shrub and Vine Garden contains a multitude of cultivated plants with culturally significant medicinal properties. However, on a casual stroll along Linden Path to the Leventritt, you will pass dozens of other plants that are often looked upon as simple weeds. Many of these plants have rich ethnobotanical histories of their own that tie us closer to our environment. Your guides will explain how these "weedy" plants came to colonize this area while touching on cultural contexts and botanical identification of these wild species—as well as the cultivated medicinal species in...

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    Walking Postscript: Revisiting Plants from the Bulletin of Popular Information

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    In 1911, Charles Sprague Sargent, the founding director of the Arnold Arboretum, began writing a serialized pamphlet titled the Bulletin of Popular Information, in which he described flowering and fruiting displays at the Arboretum. Because Sargent often focused on plants newly arrived from expeditions to Asia and elsewhere, many of his descriptions provided the first horticultural comparisons between species that had never been grown in the same garden.

    On this tour, Jonathan Damery will revisit plants mentioned throughout Charles Sprague Sargent's sixteen years with...

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    Growing Woody Plants from Softwood Cuttings

    Location: 

    Dana Greenhouse, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    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. Students should bring their own pruners and dress for the weather.

    Cost: $36 for members; $45 for nonmembers.

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    Rose Family in Bloom

    Location: 

    Bradley Rosaceous Collection, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    The rose family (Rosaceae) contains over 3,000 species of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. Roses, spireas, mountain ash, and many more are at peak bloom in June.

    You will be surprised by the beauty, breadth, and depth of the Bradley Rosaceous Collection (BRC), and the Arboretum's role in discovering and disseminating understanding of this large family of plants.

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