On Wednesday, July 8 at 5:30 pm, discover how to prevent tick exposure and learn effective strategies to stay safe outdoors. In this talk, Polly Hill Arboeretum Horticulturalist Jack Morgan will guide you through essential tick prevention techniques, including the best clothing and repellents to use, safe tick removal methods, and ways to protect yourself from tick-borne illnesses. He will be joined by Patrick Roden-Reynolds, a public health biologist for the Inter-Island Public Health Excellence Collaborative and Director of the Martha’s Vineyard Tick Program.
Pre-registration required. PHA Members: $10; Non-Members: $20. Click here to register.
A successful dynamic landscape requires a fully expressed ground plane planting that yields benefits that extend well beyond aesthetics, from managing stormwater to supporting pollinators and more. In this Polly Hill Arboretum program on July 1 at 5:30 pm, Patrick Cullina will review essential design strategies for the design of successful herbaceous landscapes — including assessments of the ecological regions (including Martha’s Vineyard) that offer so many valuable cues, plant selection, integration, spacing, establishment, and more, often through the lens of project precedents.
Patrick Cullina is an award-winning horticulturist, landscape designer, photographer, lecturer, and planning consultant with more than thirty years of experience in landscape-related fields. Formerly, he served as the founding V.P. of Horticulture & Operations for New York City’s High Line Park, as Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s V.P. of Horticulture, Operations, & Science Research, and Associate Director of the Rutgers University Gardens in affiliation with the school’s Department of Landscape Architecture. His current consulting practice is dedicated to the design, creation, development, and management of transformational dynamic landscapes through the innovative integration of plants and management strategies — often in collaboration with some of the world’s leading landscape architects and architects.
Break up the winter doldrums by getting outside and learning winter tree identification from Polly Hill Arboretum Director of Grounds & Facilities, Ian Jochems. Participants will learn how to use the characteristics of bark, twigs, buds, and more to identify common deciduous and evergreen trees.
For the first seasonal tour of the Polly Hill Arboretum in Martha’s Vineyard of 2026, take a walk through the Arboretum Woods with PHA Director of Grounds & Facilities, Ian Jochems. Ian will discuss basic tree identification; a primer for his in-depth Winter Tree ID workshop on February 21! The walk is included with the $5 admission fee (free for PHA members). Meet at the Arboretum Visitors Center.
In the face of the continuing and rising needs of hungry people around the world, in our nation, and on Martha’s Vineyard, especially in a time of natural disasters, wars, economic despair, cuts in humanitarian aid, and millions of displaced people, Martha’s Vineyard Crop Hunger Walk remains steadfast in its commitment to raising money in the fight against hunger through annual hunger walks. Over the course of 34 years, the MV CROP Hunger Walks have raised almost $700,000 (to be exact: $699,914) to benefit the poor and hungry around the world and on Martha’s Vineyard. Last year, we once again were one of the top walks in the nation, raising $41,130 – our best total ever and 30th highest in the country. We’re grateful for all our walkers and donors who join us year after year. We will gather at 1:30 pm at St. Augustine’s Church in Vineyard Haven. Walkers will start in two or three stages as soon as each team has assembled and checked in. At the end of the walk, walkers will be welcomed back with a Walk Day Festival with music, food, and fun for all. We will gather at 1:30 pm at St. Augustine’s Church in Vineyard Haven. Walkers will start in two or three stages as soon as each team has assembled and checked in. At the end of the walk, walkers will be welcomed back with a Walk Day Festival with music, food, and fun for all. For more information, and to register, visit https://events.crophungerwalk.org/crophungerwalks/event/marthasvineyard
If you find yourself on Martha’s Vineyard this fall, you are warmly welcome to experience award-winning photographer Libby Ellis’s new collection of black-and-white photographic portraits of garden-grown flowers. Interweaving “little particles of dream,” Ellis has reenvisioned the Kunstkammers, or Collector’s Cabinets, in the reading room at The Carnegie, part of the Vineyard Preservation Trust, in the seaside village of Edgartown.
Libby Ellis is a photographer creating contemplative photographic portraits of garden-grown flora. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries in the US and Europe, including the Saatchi Gallery in London. Ellis’s flora portraits have been awarded distinguish by the Royal Horticultural Society and can be found on exhibit in the permanent collections of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the Harvard Divinity School.
You’re invited to Island Grown Farm, 80 Stoney Hill Road in Vineyard Haven, Massachuestts, on July 29 from 3 – 5 for an inside look at our regenerative farming practices with Andrew Woodruff, Regenerative Agriculture Consultant, and Tim Connelly, Farm Director. After the tour, hear from our Co-Executive Directors, Noli Taylor and Caroline Pam, as they share more about IGI’s mission to build a regenerative and equitable food system. Then stay to enjoy a tasting featuring farm-grown food and great conversation.
Join The Polly Hill Arboretum on July 2 at 5:30 pm for a journey into the biology and ecology of the southern pine beetle. Although this tiny beetle is a newcomer on Martha’s Vineyard, where it is causing extensive pitch pine mortality in parts of the island, it is well known in the southeastern United States. Caroline will share what scientists know about the southern pine beetle from research throughout its range, including how to manage for this native (yet sometimes destructive) insect. Dr. Caroline Kanaskie is a forest entomologist and community ecologist. She recently earned her Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Science at the University of New Hampshire, where she studied the southern pine beetle at its northern range limits. This special lecture is co-sponsored by BiodiversityWorks MV.
No better way to spend a day – visit the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Livestock Show & Fair, beginning Thursday, August 15 at 4 pm, and running through Sunday, August 18 at 10:00 pm. The event takes place at 35 Panhandle Road in West Tisbury. For complete information, visit https://marthasvineyardagriculturalsociety.org/the-fair
Richard Johnson, Director of the Martha’s Vineyard Tick Program will present the latest data on deer and ticks on the Vineyard, in a free lecture on August 7 at 5:30 at the Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury, Martha’s Vineyard. The presentation will start with a review of the three common ticks on the Island and their ecology, life cycles and the diseases that they carry. Then we will briefly review the role of the white tailed deer on the Island’s tick population. Next we will discuss personal protection and how to make your yard safer. Finally, Dick will present the latest information on the spread of the lone star tick and efforts to reduce the deer population on Martha’s Vineyard.
