Harvard University

Sunday, June 7, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Collections Up Close: Vines Take the Stage

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Vines twine and twirl, grasp and cling, as well as offer beautiful flowers and unique fruits. Join the Arnold Arboretum on June 7 at 1 pm for a tour with Leventritt Shrub and Vine Arboretum Horticulturalist, Greg LaPlume, to hear about the Arboretum’s variety of vines, their maintenance, and those that would work well in your own garden. There will also be family activities to discover these special members of our woody plant collections. 

Additional details to come.

This is a drop in activity. The event will be taking place in the Leventritt Shrub and Vine Garden. Street parking is available on Arborway Road.

In case of inclement weather, contact 617.384.5209. As with all activities scheduled in this age of Covid-19, please call in the event this event must be cancelled.

Clematis ‘Westerplatte’ 334-2006*A

Thursday, June 4, 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Gardening for Butterflies and Moths

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Learn how to attract butterflies and moths to your garden and cater to their unique lifecycle requirements in this Arnold Arboretum June 4 program focused exclusively on lepidopteran-friendly gardening techniques. Colin McCallum-Cook will describe the food plants required by caterpillars, the flowers needed to provide nectar, and importantly, the habitat requirements for successful overwintering of cocoons in the garden. The session will take place in the Hunnewell Building from 5:30 – 8:00 and is $25 for Arboretum members, $32 for nonmembers.

Lepidopteran conservation in New England is more important than ever, as many formerly common species are now threatened with extirpation.

Colin McCallum-Cook 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. To register call 617-384-5277, or visit http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu. As with all programs scheduled in this age of Covid-19, please call in advance to confirm the course will be able to be held as scheduled.

Saturdays, April 18, April 25, and May 2, 9:30 am – 11:30 am – The Art of Botanical Drawing – Postponed

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Explore the beauty and variety of plant forms using pencil, watercolor, and colored pencil. This three-session Harvard Museum of Natural History course will introduce botanical drawing techniques through close observation and practice with contour, gesture, foreshortening, shading, and color. All skill levels are welcome. Instructor: Erica Beade. Fees: $180 HMNH members/$198 nonmembers. Advance Registration required at  www.hmnh.harvard.edu. Classes meet at 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge on April 18, 25, and May 2, from 9:30 – 11:30.

Tuesday, March 17, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm – The Herbal History of World War II – POSTPONED

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Based on research completed for her recent book, Plants Go to War: A Botanical History of World War II, Judith Sumner will discuss the importance of herbs and medicinal plants in the war effort. From the County Herb Committees in England to South American cinchona (quinine) missions, plants played essential roles in treating wartime illnesses and conditions. We’ll examine the botanical origins of treatments for ailments ranging from bacterial infections and tropical parasites to vitamin deficiencies and bombing-induced stress. The Tower Hill Botanic Garden talk on March 17 from 11 – 12:30 will also include historical perspective on the cultural and medicinal role of herbs in the Third Reich, including the cultivation of extensive herbal gardens at concentration camps.

Judith Sumner is a botanist who specializes in ethnobotany, flowering plants, plant adaptations, and garden history. She has taught extensively both at the college level and at botanical gardens, including the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and Garden in the Woods. Judith graduated from Vassar College and completed graduate studies in botany at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She studied at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and at the British Museum (Natural History) and did extensive field work in the Pacific region on the genus Pittosporum. She has published monographic studies in the American Journal of Botany, Pollen et Spores, and Allertonia, as well as monographing two families for Flora Vitiensis Nova.

The session is $15 for THBG members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

Sundays, March 8 – April 5, 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm – Cannabis Lecture Series

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Learn more about the plant that has been making news and sparking change across the country. In each lecture, experts will cover a different topic related to cannabis, as well as its connection to people throughout history. Topics include ethnobotany, evolution, horticulture, taxonomy and genetics, and hemp. Join us for one lecture or all. 

March 8 will feature Peter Apicella, University of Connecticut, on Genetics and Taxonomy. March 15 lecture is on Horticulture with Maggie Kinsella of Coyote Cannabis Corporation. On March 29, John de la Parra of Harvard University’s Herbaria teams with Ernest Anemone of the Arnold Arboretum to talk about Ethnobotany, and finally, on April 5, Monique McHenry of University of Vermont speaks on Evolution. $20 per lecture for Tower Hill members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.


Thursday, March 12, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Holiday Houseplant Hangover

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Did you receive plants as gifts over the holidays? Are they looking a bit sad at this point and are you wondering whatever to do with them? Or are you simply a houseplant hoarder whose enthusiasm has waned with the winter months? If yes, let plant propagator and horticulturist Sean Halloran raise your plants—and your hopes—up a notch. In this March 12 Arnold Arboretum class, beginning at 6:30 pm in the Hunnewell Building, Sean will share tips for getting your plants back on track to becoming home enhancements instead of embarrassments. In advance, email close-up photos of your plants and plant problems so that Sean can be sure to address specific horticultural challenges you may be facing. Email (preferred): adulted@arnarb.harvard.edu; or bring images to class.
Fee $10 member; $15 nonmember

Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

Wednesday, February 26, 6:00 pm – Olfaction in Science and Society

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The sense of smell plays a critical role in human behavior, from warning us of potential dangers to attracting us to certain foods, places, and people. Harvard scientists Catherine Dulac, Higgins Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology; Lee and Ezpeleta Professor of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, and Venkatesh Murthy, Raymond Leo Erikson Life Sciences Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard, study the molecules, cells, and brain circuits that underlie olfaction and the social behaviors that aromas can elicit. In this Wednesday, February 26 program, they will engage in a conversation with internationally recognized olfactive expert Dawn Goldworm to discuss how neurobiological research on olfaction relates to our everyday experiences.

Advance registration is recommended. Program begins at 6 in the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge. Presented by the Harvard Museum of Natural History in collaboration with the Harvard Brain Science Initiative

Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage

Saturday, March 7, 9:30 am – Cultivating Place: Women in Horticulture and Place-making

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In this year’s “cultivating women” symposium, we highlight contemporary efforts by women to create, share, and preserve greenspaces for all and will showcase the importance of community spaces in this era of increasing urban and suburban density. Speakers: Jennifer Jewell, Creator/Host, Cultivating Place, NPR Radio Show and Podcast; Garden Writer Kaki Martin, ASLA, PLA, Principal of Klopfer Martin Design Group ; Kristin McCullin, Horticulturist, Allen C. Haskell Public Gardens ; Patricia Spence, President and CEO, The Urban Farming Institute of Boston.

Fee $50; Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

Co-sponsored by the Mary M.B. Wakefield Charitable Trust and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.

Wednesday, February 26, 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Grafting Woody Plants: Fruit Trees

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Grafting is the technique of joining parts of separate plants in such a manner that they unite and continue their growth as one. Learn basic principles of grafting with an overview of different types of dormant-season grafts. Arnold Arboretum propagator Sean Halloran will provide step-by-step instructions so that you can practice both cleft and side veneer grafts using apple root stock. Simple after-care will be required until planting out in springtime. Registrants will need to sign an Assumption of Risk and Release in order to participate in this class. The Dana Greenhouse Classroom is the venue, and the date is Wednesday, February 26 from 5 – 7:30. Fee $48 Arboretum member, $58 nonmember. Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

Copyright Lizzie Harper

Monday, February 10, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm, or Tuesday, February 11, 6:15 pm – 7:45 pm – Flower Dissection

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Have you really looked at a flower lately? After sketching and dissecting flowers, we will use stereo microscopes to look at the floral structures hidden within, learning to recognize them across a variety of flower forms. This Arnold Arboretum session is led by Ana Maria Caballero McGuire, a Nature Education Specialist at the Arboretum. Limited to 16 per session.
Free, but registration requested. Register at www.arboretum.harvard.edu