Hunnewell Building

Tuesday, June 3, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – The Secret Dynamics of Plants

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Plants feed our planet and attract our attention with their beauty. Their immobility imparts the sense of calmness and makes us rest and relax in their shadow. Deep inside, however, plants are all but immobile and quiet. On a cellular and tissue level, plants are actually more active, variable and exciting than animals, at least in the opinion of Michael Knoblauch, PhD, Plant Cell Biologist and Director, Franceschi Microscopy and Imaging Center, Washington State University, and Bullard Fellow, Harvard Forest, Harvard University. On Tuesday, June 3, beginning at 7 pm, will lead you into the motile microscopic world of plants to discuss mysteries such as the “plant’s heart”, their “nervous system” and “green muscles”. The lecture is accompanied by an art exhibition of large scale microscopic images on display in the Hunnewell Building, May 28–June 13.
The talk will take place in the Hunnewell Building at the Arboretum, and the talk is free for Arboretum members, $10 for nonmembers. Register online at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/SelectDate.aspx or call 617-384-5277.

Monday, May 19, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – A Landscape Critic in the Gilded Age

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Mariana Griswold van Rensselaer (1851 – 1934) was one of the premier figures in landscape writing and design at the turn of the twentieth century, at a moment when the amateur pursuit of gardening and the increasingly professionalized landscape design field were beginning to diverge.  Her close relationship with Frederick Law Olmsted influenced her ideas on landscape gardening, and her interest in botany and geology shaped the ideas upon which her philosophy and art criticism were based.  Author Judith Major presents the first in-depth study of the versatile critic and author, revealing Van Rensselaer’s vital role in this moment in the history of landscape architecture.  The talk will take place Monday, May 19, at 7 pm at the Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway.  Presented by The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and the Friends of Fairsted, the fee is $10 for members of the sponsoring organizations, $15 for nonmembers.  Registration required at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

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Wednesday, May 21, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Hellstrip Gardening: Paradise at the Curb

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Semi-public spaces in parking strips and alongside driveways and alleys could host thriving gardens that add beauty and provide ecological services.  Author Evelyn Hadden addresses issues such as car, foot, and paw traffic, utility and maintenance equipment, restricted root zones, contaminated soil, covenants and city regulations, and presents ideas for the greening of your neighborhood, on Wednesday, May 21, from 6:30 – 8:30 at Arnold Arboretum’s Hunnewell Building, 125 Arborway, Boston.  Co-sponsored with the Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens.  Member of sponsoring organizations will pay $15, non-members $25.  Register at 781-283-3094, or email wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu.

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Wednesday, April 16, 6:00 pm – The Arnold Arboretum: An Urban Gem of Landscape and Diversity

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William Friedman, PhD, Arnold Arboretum and Arnold Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, will speak on America’s oldest public arboretum and discuss new initiatives in collections development, botanical and horticultural research, and programs for the public. From mapping an urban wild with drones to climate change studies to Tree Mobs and sophisticated GIS-based collections management, come learn what old trees and new thinking are up to in the heart of Boston and the Emerald Necklace. Wednesday, April 16, 6:00pm refreshments; 6:30pm lecture at the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum, the Arborway, Boston.Free for Arnold Arboretum and BSLA members, $10 nonmembers. Offered with the Boston Society of Landscape Architects.  Register on line at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu.

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Saturday, February 15, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Peters Hill 360: Photographs by Meri Bond

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The images in Peters Hill 360 reveal Meri Bond’s deep relationship to the Peters Hill landscape at the Arnold Arboretum. Drawn to art after a career in business, Bond has devoted countless hours to photographing the Arboretum. In this show, containing personal favorites selected from thousands of images, individual trees become time travelers and views take on new dimensions with the passage of time. Revisiting the same trees again and again, Bond explores a fascination with light and shadow through the full circle of seasons. The Arnold Arboretum exhibit will run from February 8 – May 24, and the opening reception will be held in the Hunnewell Building on Saturday, February 15, from 1 – 3.

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Wednesday, December 11, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Evolution in a Toxic World

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With pesticides in produce, mercury in fish, and flame retardants permeating our homes, the world has become a toxic place. But as Emily Monosson demonstrates in her groundbreaking book, Evolution in a Toxic World, it has always been toxic. When oxygen first developed in Earth’s atmosphere, it threatened the very existence of life: now we literally can’t live without it. According to Monosson, understanding life’s evolutionary response to environmental poisons and how rapidly or slowly life adapted to such threats can teach us a great deal about today’s and tomorrow’s most dangerous contaminants. Emily Monosson, PhD, is Environmental Toxicologist and Adjunct Professor at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.   She will speak on Wednesday, December 11, from 7 – 8 in the Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, and the fee is free for members of the Arboretum, $10 for nonmembers.  Students: call 617.384.5277 to register  free.  To sign up, visit http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?DayPlanner=1260&DayPlannerDate=12/11/2013&utm_source=November-December+2013+Lectures+and+Classes&utm_campaign=Fall+2013+Classes&utm_medium=email.

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Sundays, December 8 & 15, 9:00 am – 12:30 pm – Introduction to Winter Tree Identification

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Learn how to identify deciduous trees during their dormant season with Arnold Arboretum Arborist Kyle Stephens on two Sundays, December 8 and 15, from 9 – 12:30 at the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. Looking at specific character combinations, you will determine the genus and species of several types of trees in the Boston area. Class begins indoors with a discussion of basic classification techniques and continues outside to the Arboretum grounds to examine a variety of trees. (Note: Start date has shifted from Dec. 1 to Dec. 8.)  Fee $75 Arboretum  member, $100 nonmember.  Register on line at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?DayPlanner=62&DayPlannerDate=12/8/2013&utm_source=November-December+2013+Lectures+and+Classes&utm_campaign=Fall+2013+Classes&utm_medium=email

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Monday, November 18, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – The Lost Art of Finding Our Way

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What is lost when modern technology substitutes for our innate capacity to find our way? Could you navigate out of a dense bank of fog or an unfamiliar forest using only environmental clues and simple instruments?

Long before GPS, Google Earth, and global transit, humans traveled vast distances, navigating by natural phenomena, but few could do so today without technology.

Spurred by a haunting tragedy, John Edward Huth began a self-imposed study of way-finding which culminated in his book, The Lost Art of Finding Our Way.

In this Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University lecture, to be held Monday, November 18 from 7 – 8:30 in the Hunnewell Building, 125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain, John will put us in the shoes, ships, and sleds of early navigators for whom paying close attention to the environment around them was, quite literally, a matter of life and death. $10 fee, free for Arnold Arboretum members and students. To register online, visit https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?DayPlanner=1259&DayPlannerDate=11/18/2013.

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Saturday, November 9, 8:00 pm – Ensemble Evolution: Sounds from the Treetops

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On Saturday, November 9, beginning at 8 pm in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum, 125 The Arborway, Boston, Ensemble Evolution presents a multi-media performance of original works inspired by the iconic Treehotel in Harads, Northern Sweden. The unique compositional style and diverse interests of each performer can be heard from piece to piece, while the set is unified by the group’s shared passion for percussion, sound and musical exploration. Each of the six pieces in Sounds from the Treetops relates to one of the tree house guest rooms and will be accompanied by video footage of these unusual abodes and the surrounding landscape, to transport the audience from the performance space to the Swedish outdoors. In addition, Ensemble Evolution will perform a new piece influenced by their experience in the Arboretum landscape. Note: This percussion performance will vary from soft and subtle to very loud. We will provide earplugs for those who wish to use them. Ensemble Evolution’s members are Maria Finkelmeier, Charles Martin, and Jacob Remington. Ensemble Evolution will be Artists-in-Residence at the Arnold Arboretum in November, performing and teaching composition and improvisation in response to nature. Fee $20 Arboretum member, $25 nonmember, $10 student.  Register on line at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

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Thursday, November 7, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm – 100 Years On: Alfred Russel Wallace, Evolution’s Unsung Discoverer

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Andrew Berry, PhD, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, will speak at the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum on Thursday, November 7, beginning at 7 pn, on Alfred Russel Wallace, Evolution’s Unsung Discoverer. Remarkably, what is arguably the simplest and most powerful theory in all of science, the theory of evolution by natural selection, was discovered not once but twice. It was developed completely independently by two Victorian scientists, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. Today Darwin is famous, the face of evolution, but Wallace is very little known. This talk, on, to the day, the centenary of Wallace’s death, will address three issues: 1. Why was this long sought theory discovered twice and more or less at the same time? 2. Who was Wallace, and how did he come to the idea? 3. Why has Wallace been so comprehensively eclipsed by Darwin in the popular imagination? Overall, this talk is a celebration of Wallace’s life and extraordinary contributions. He was a visionary scientist, bold adventurer, superb writer, and compassionate campaigner. Free to Arboretum members and students, $10 nonmember fee.  Register online at https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/SelectDate.aspx.

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