Boston Flora

Tag: Murphy Westwood

  • Wednesday, October 30, 6:00 pm – Massachusetts Horticultural Society Honorary Medals Dinner

    The Board of Trustees of Massachusetts Horticultural Society (MHS) has announced its 2024 Honorary Medals recipients. The 7 winners will be celebrated at the 121st Honorary Medals Dinner at the Garden at Elm Bank in Wellesley, MA on October 30, 2024. This year, MHS will continue a 193-year tradition of awarding medals to individuals and organizations for their contributions to excellence in horticulture for the public good.


    Douglas W. Tallamy will be awarded the George Robert White Medal of Honor, MHS’s highest honor, for eminent
    service in the field of horticulture, and will deliver the keynote speech during the ceremony. A New York Times bestselling
    author, his books, including Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard (2020) and The
    Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees     (2021), have delivered the importance of horticultural
    conservation to homes across the world. As a professor in University of Delaware’s Department of Entomology and
    Wildlife Ecology, he advocates for smaller lawns, native plants, and habitats for native species. His advocacy work is echoed
    through his founding of Homegrown National Park, a grassroots organization that encourages everyone to grow native
    plants.


    Matthew Cunningham will receive the Thomas Roland Medal for exceptional skill in horticulture and lectures.
    Founding Principal of Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC, he is an award-winning and nationally recognized
    landscape architect.


    Gold Medals for eminent horticultural accomplishments will be awarded to David Barnett (President and CEO
    Emeritus, Mount Auburn Cemetery) and Tom Ryan (Senior Principal and Owner, Ryan Associates Landscape Architecture
    and Planning). Patrick Chassé (landscape architect), Dr. Barbara E. Millen (Board Chair, Center for Plant Conservation;
    Trustee, Massachusetts Horticultural Society and a long time Board Member of The Boston Committee of the GCA), and Murphy Westwood, PhD (Vice President of Science and Conservation, The Morton Arboretum) will receive Silver Medals for their noteworthy service in horticulture. More details about each awardee and their recognition will become available at https://www.masshort.org/honorary-medals/.


    The 121st Honorary Medals Dinner will take place Wednesday, October 30, 2024 at 6 pm at Massachusetts
    Horticultural Society’s Garden at Elm Bank. The dinner will be preceded by a day-long symposium, featuring lectures by
    medal winners Doug Tallamy, Matt Cunningham, Tom Ryan, and Murphy Westwood. Tickets for the awards ceremony
    including dinner and drinks are $180; symposium tickets are $250 for General Admission and $200 for Boston Society of
    Landscape Architects and MHS members. Proceeds benefit excellence in horticulture at MHS. For event information and
    to purchase tickets when they are released, please visit https://www.masshort.org/honorary-medals/

  • Wednesday, February 10, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm – Oak Red-List Project: Main Threats to Oaks and Saving Oaks From Extinction Webinar

    Oaks are sometimes referred to as the “tree of life” for providing food and shelter for a multitude of wildlife species. Murphy Westwood, director of global tree conservation for The Morton Arboretum in Illinois, refers to oaks as the “kingpins in the forest.”

    But today oaks are in trouble. Razed to make way for crops, pastureland and development, and ravaged by fire suppression, climate change, diseases and pests, this country’s oak forests are a fraction of what they once were, and those that remain are declining rapidly. In a recent analysis, Morton Arboretum scientists found that 28 of the nation’s 91 native oaks—or more than 30 percent—are of conservation concern. That percentage of at-risk species in one genus, Westwood says, “is seriously worrying.” The threats to oaks include pests and diseases, changes to landscapes, development and agriculture. Notably, oaks’ longevity and slow growth rates make them particularly susceptible to the effects of a rapidly changing climate.

    In this Ecological Landscape Alliance online presentation at 12:30 pm Eastern time, online, Dr. Westwood will discuss the economic, ecological, and cultural value of oaks, and will explain the threats each species faces and the conservation efforts underway to save them, including the establishment of the Global Conservation Consortium for Oak, a recent global initiative to coordinate conservation efforts across sectors and regions to ensure no oak species goes extinct. Murphy Westwood, PhD is Director of the Global Tree Conservation Program at The Morton Arboretum. The mission of the program is to save trees from extinction through global collaborations. Murphy works closely with colleagues from botanical gardens, universities, and other sectors in strategic locations like Mexico, Central America, Europe, and China, as well as throughout the United States, to develop conservation projects targeting key threatened tree species, especially oaks (genus Quercus). She also creates tools, guidelines, publications, and other resources to build capacity and catalyze action for tree conservation. Murphy leads the Global Conservation Consortium for Oak, is a Global Tree Conservation Officer for Botanic Gardens Conservation International, and works to build support for the Global Trees Campaign, the only global conservation program dedicated to saving all of the world’s threatened tree species. Murphy also manages ArbNet, the interactive, global community of arboreta and tree-focused professionals. She facilitates the ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program and develops resources and content for the ArbNet website. Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Register HERE.

  • Wednesday, August 17, 7:30 pm – Global Tree Conservation: Collaboration for Threatened Trees

    Trees are disappearing from their natural habitats all over the world! There is an urgent need for coordinated action before it is too late In her job as Tree Conservation Specialist, Murphy Westwood is charged with saving trees from extinction through global collaboration. But how? Join Murphy on Wednesday, August 17 at 7:30 pm at the Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury on Martha’s Vineyard for this presentation on the development of the Global Tree Conservation Program at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois. Learn about their flagship initiatives, their geographic and species priorities, how they foster cooperation among people and botanical institutions around the globe, and most importantly how they take action to save our threatened trees.

    $10/$5 for PHA members.Sponsored by Bartlett Tree Experts.

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