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    Butterfly Discovery Walk

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Venture into the Arboretum landscape with caterpillar expert Sam Jaffe. Sam will wander the landscape highlighting host plants and the insects they support, focusing his attention on caterpillars, moths, and butterflies. Bring a camera to document your discoveries and a notebook to record identification tips and plant suggestions for expanding the array of butterflies your garden or park can support.

    This event is suitable for adults and children ages 12 and older. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

    Cost: $10 for...

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    Moth Meet

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Join the Arnold Arboretum for a late night learning adventure to discover the nocturnal invertebrates that are flitting about the Arboretum after hours. Naturalist Sam Jaffe will start the evening in the classroom with some introductory information about the life-cycles of moths and other night flyers. He’ll then lead the group outdoors for a moth lighting at which we will admire and study a variety of nocturnal insects. Back in the classroom, microscopes and other field guides will allow us to make clear identifications of these lesser-seen beauties.

    This event is suitable...

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    Garden for Biodiversity

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Sam Jaffe, naturalist and educator, will present both the collaborative and deceitful nature of insects and plants as they’ve evolved to rely upon one another. This lecture, illustrated with Sam’s gorgeous photographs, will expand your invertebrate knowledge, appreciation, and desire to be the best garden host you can be.

    Cost:
    $10 for members; $15 for nonmembers.

    ...

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    The Caterpillar Lab Visits the Arnold Arboretum

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    The Caterpillar Lab, from Keene, New Hampshire, comes to the Arnold Arboretum for 5 days of astonishing exhibits. Explore the amazing world of caterpillars on a whole new level. There will be live caterpillars, cocoons, hatched eggs, shed skins, and much more. Visitors of all ages will be amazed!

    Learn more about The Caterpillar Lab.

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    Family Hike: The Forest is Calling

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Families need nature at all times of the year! After meeting inside the main gate at the Visitor Center, you'll visit a nearby forest inside the Arboretum and learn what plants and animals live there. Visitors will get a chance to play with forest puppets, get a tattoo, and read a StoryWalk ®.

    Free and open to all, most suitable for children ages four through ten.

    ...

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    Catch Some Rays!—Solar Energy

    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.

    Catch Some Rays! will let you harness the power of the sun. Help to create solar ovens, test the ability of various garden bed coverings to keep roots cool, and plant a sunflower seed that will follow the sun.

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

    ...

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    Art Workshop: Cyanotype Printing for Families

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Sarah Cross, the Arnold Arboretum's exhibiting artist of Between the Leaves, will hold a cyanotype printing workshop for families. Join Sarah to make beautiful blue prints of leaves and blooms found at the Arboretum, while you learn about this alternative printing technique. After making your own unique cyanotype photogram, you will be able to take it home. All materials will be provided.

    Please note: This free drop-in activity is appropriate for ages 7 and up.

    ...

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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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    Exploring Science Together: Bugs!

    Location: 

    Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge

    Take a closer look and explore the world of minuscule bugs! Learn through hands-on activities designed to show you how to classify and identify these numerous and diverse creatures! Participate in activities in our incredible arthropods gallery. Observe and touch live invertebrates, and then go outside and collect some of your own. Dig in the dirt and learn how invertebrates help people compost food waste into soil. Create your own scientific equipment that will help you continue the study of entomology at home.

    All activities are designed to be fun and interactive experiences...

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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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