Join horticulturist Harnek Singh at the Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury on July 24 at 5:30 pm for a photographic tour of the Flower Garden at Wave Hill, a private estate turned public garden located along the Hudson River in the Bronx. Harnek will speak about how he selects plants to cultivate for the Flower Garden, how he edits self-sowing plants, and how flower shape, leaf texture, and color are carefully considered for an optimal display. $10 for general public, $5 for PHA members.
On Wednesday, April 24 at 5:30 at Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury, Martha’s Vineyard, take a virtual trip to the mountains and forests of Japan with PHA Curator Todd Rounsaville. In September 2018, Todd traveled to Honshu, Japan in collaboration with staff from the Arnold Arboretum and Morris Arboretum to collect seed of rare and horticulturally important plants. Collecting predominately in mountainous forests, the group returned with many species have never been cultivated at their respective gardens, with an emphasis on azaleas, enkianthus, stewartia, maples, and hydrangeas. $10 general admission, $5 for PHA members.
Growing edible mushrooms on oak logs is an easy and environmentally friendly method. Join Polly Hill Arboretum Horticulturist Oliver Osnoss on April 13 from 10 – 12 for a hands-on workshop inoculating locally sourced oak logs with shiitake (Lentinula edodes) mushroom spawn. Learn about the biology and process of mushroom cultivation for each of these two species. Bring home your own inoculated log and instructions for caring for your crop. Pack a lunch.
$65/$50 for PHA members. Pre-registration is required. Call 508-693-9426 to sign up.
Patrick Cullina is an award-winning horticulturist, landscape designer, photographer, lecturer, and planning consultant with nearly twenty-five years of experience in the landscape and green infrastructure fields. The Polly Hill Arboretum, in conjunction with SBS:The Grain Store, are pleased to host Pat for a September 12 lecture at PHA, in which he will discuss design lessons through the lens of his current work. His talk will cover site design and plant and material selection with a particular focus on current projects in New York City, along Boston Harbor, on Long Island, and on a private island off the coast of Maine. Topics will include ecological inspirations from the coastal plain and other maritime environments and the roles they play in design choices.
Pat has served as founding V. P. of Horticulture and Operations for New York City’s High Line, as Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s V.P. of Horticulture, Operations & Science Research and as Associate Director of the Rutgers University Gardens in affiliation with the school’s department of landscape architecture and the College of Agriculture and Environmental Science. His current practice is dedicated to the creation, development, establishment and maintenance of transformational living landscapes through the innovative integration of plants and management strategies, often in collaboration with some of the world’s leading architects, landscape architects and planners.
The lecture begins at 5:30, and is $5 for PHA members, $10 for nonmembers. Call 508-696-9426 to register in advance.
Join Polly Hill Arboretum staff for a look at plants of interest in the winter landscape. Every season of the year the arboretum offers something of beauty and interest to visitors. Meet at the Visitor Center, 809 State Road, Tisbury, Martha’s Vineyard, and dress for the weather. Tours are free with $5 Admission/ free for members and children 12 and under, and run for a little over an hour. No pre-registration required.
Winter Walk tours run the 2nd Saturday of each month, November – March.
Many of us wish to create a garden that works with nature—not one that fights against it! In this Polly Hill Arboretum presentation on Wednesday, August 16 at 5:30 pm, Dr. Art Cameron, director of the Michigan State University Horticulture Gardens, will share strategies for creating a natural aesthetic in your landscape. Learn which native and exotic plants are tough, but not weedy; beautiful, but not fussy. Art will discuss some of his favorite plants, including a wide assortment of native and non-native herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses suitable for diverse locations. He will also give ideas on how to blend these plants together to design landscapes that are in tune with nature. Learn to create a new look in your garden using some of these great plants. $10 / $5 for PHA members. Sponsored by SBS: The Grain Store. For more information visit www.pollyhillarboretum.org.
A beloved and well-known garden plant, paperbark maple (Acer griseum) is endangered in its native habitat in China. Kris Bachtell, vice president of collections and facilities at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, will speak at the Polly Hill Arboretum, 809 State Road in West Tisbury, on Wednesday, August 9 at 5:30 pm about the Paperbark Maple Conservation Project that is helping to secure its future. Kris has traveled worldwide collecting samples of the species, from public gardens in the United States and United Kingdom to the wilds of the People’s Republic of China. These expeditions are helping scientists understand the plant’s genetic diversity to help guide its conservation. Get a botanist’s perspective on the history of paperbark maple in the wild and in cultivation and learn how this project can serve as a model to help conserve other threatened species. Sponsored by Bartlett Tree Experts. $5 for PHA members, $10 for general public. For more information visit www.pollyhillarboretum.org.
Polly Hill Arboretum will again be offering the ever-popular Edgartown Tree Tours this season. Join PHA Horticulturist/Arborist Ian Jochems on Wednesday, August 2 at 10 am for an informative and fun walking tour of the many glorious mature trees of Edgartown. In the midst of the mantle of green that envelops downtown Edgartown, among the hydrangeas and picket fences, many unique and fine specimen trees await discovery. As one past participant noted, “I will forever after see the town’s trees with new eyes and greater appreciation.” $15 for PHA members, $20 for nonmembers. Pre-registration is required. Call 508-693-9426. Image of pagoda tree from www.vineyardgazette.com.
On Wednesday, July 26 at 5:30 pm at the Polly Hill Arboretum, 809 State Road in West Tisbury, Dr. Eric Chivian, founder and former director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, will present a talk on recognizing and addressing global environmental threats. His lecture will also touch on Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, a topic of great importance to the Island community. In 1980, Dr. Chivian co-founded the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. During the past 26 years, he has worked to involve physicians in the United States and abroad in efforts to increase public understanding of the potential human health consequences of global environmental change, and in 2008 was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Dr. Chivian is the senior editor and author of Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity, named “Best Biology Book of 2008” by Library Journal. He currently directs a new nonprofit, the Program for Preserving the Natural World. The lecture is co-sponsored with the Vineyard Conservation Society. $10 / $5 for PHA and VCS members.
Botanical names hold great power for gardeners; they offer insight for plant identification, cultural growing requirements, and botanical trivia, and allow a means for communicating with gardeners around the world. Still, Latin names can be intimidating to learn, understand, and pronounce. This July 20 talk by new Polly Hill Arboretum Curator Todd Rounsaville will help to simplify the challenging subject of plant names: where do they come from? What do they mean? Why do they change? The lecture will begin at 5:30 at the Arboretum, 809 State Road in West Tisbury. $10 / $5 for PHA members.
