Boston Flora

Tag: Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast

  • Tuesday, December 8, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Observations on Urban Nature, Online

    Peter Del Tredici, Senior Research Scientist Emeritus at the Arnold Arboretum and Rosetta Elkin, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at McGill University, converse about the nature of urban environments, on December 8 beginning at 6 pm.


    Peter will begin the program with a brief overview of the plant observations he makes in his book, Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast. Following this, Peter and Rosetta will discuss both ecological and design elements that come into play in the cities and suburbs that we call home. Up for discussion are the environments that humans intentionally and unintentionally create as we turn over more land to infrastructure and buildings while also increasing designed green spaces for human use. They will consider how nature is realized and imagined in the city and who it supports. Offered in collaboration with Bartlett Arboretum & Gardens

    This virtual program will take place live in Zoom. Free admission, but registration is required. Register HERE.

  • Wednesday, October 29, 10:00 am – Nature in the City and Stewarding Our Native Ecology

    The Annual Meeting of The Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America will take place Wednesday, October 29, at The Country Club, Clyde Street, Brookline, beginning with coffee and registration at 10:00 am, and the business meeting at 10:30 am, followed by a keynote speech by Peter Del Tredici on Nature in the City and Stewarding Our Native Ecology. Dr. Del Tredici is Senior Research Scientist, Arnold Arboretum, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design.

    “My research interests are wide ranging and mainly involve the interaction between woody plants and their environment. Over the course of thirty plus years at the Arnold Arboretum, I have worked with a number of plants, most notably Ginkgo biloba, conifers in the genera Tsuga and Sequoia, various magnolias, and several Stewartia species (family Theaceae). In all of my work, I attempt to integrate various aspects of the botany and ecology of a given species with the horticultural issues surrounding its propagation and cultivation. This fusion of science and practice has also formed the basis of my teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (since 1992), especially as it relates to understanding the impacts of climate change and urbanization on plants in both native and designed landscapes. Most recently, the focus of my research has expanded to the subject of spontaneous urban vegetation which resulted in the publication of Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: A Field Guide (Cornell University Press, 2010).”

    The program is open to members of the Garden Clubs which comprise The Boston Committee (www.bostoncommittee.org) who will receive written invitations with information on attendance fees.  If you are not a member, email info@bostoncommittee.org for more information.  Image from www.peterdeltredici.com.

  • Saturday, January 10 – Monday, January 19 – The Best of Natural Hawaii: Oahu, The Big Island & Maui

    Join friends of The Harvard Museum of Natural History as they explore three islands: Oahu, the Big Island, and Maui, each offering varied experiences and learning opportunities. Surrounded by ocean and formed by volcanic hot spots, Hawaii’s isolation and geological activity shape the islands’ biodiversity. With over 25,000 unique species, Hawaii is one of the planet’s most biologically diverse regions. A high percentage of these species are only found here, yet today these birds, insects, mammals, and plants live in a delicate balance. Hawaii’s position floating alone in the middle of the Pacific creates a unique cultural identity apart from the mainland United States. Life here feels easygoing and casual. The colorful history that shaped these islands remains clear; waves of immigrants who once labored in cane fields added their languages, foods, and cultures to the local mix. Today, there is no ethnic majority and common bonds are intangible.  The HMNH Study Leader is Dr. Peter Del Tredici, author of Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast and Senior Research Scientist of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.  The ten day trip takes place January 10 – 19, 2015. Double occupancy $5,740, with single supplement of $1,375.  For a complete itinerary call 617-495-2463, or visit http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/travel/pdf/HMSC%20Natural%20Hawaii.pdf.

     

     

  • Arnold Arboretum’s Peter Del Tredici Retires

    We received the following news from the Arnold Arboretum, and know our readers will be interested to learn more about this famous scientist in our midst.  We wish him all the best.  For the complete story visit http://arboretum.harvard.edu/saluting-a-paragon-of-plants/.

    Throughout its 140-year history, the Arnold Arboretum has advanced our understanding of biodiversity through the work of some of the most significant people in plant science. Among this select group is Senior Research Scientist Peter Del Tredici, who retires from the Arboretum in January 2014 after 35 years. Over that time, Peter has made many indelible contributions to the stewardship and study of the living collections as well as to the fields of plant morphology, plant exploration, public horticulture, urban ecology, and the science of climate change. A uniting theme in his work has been to bridge the gaps that traditionally separate the fields of landscape design, horticulture, and ecology.

    Peter began his career at the Arboretum in 1979 as an assistant propagator in the Arboretum’s Dana Greenhouses. Over three subsequent decades at the Arboretum, Peter has been recognized for his research on an array of plants and plant families, including Ginkgo biloba, conifers and dwarf conifers, magnolias (Magnolia spp.), stewartias (Stewartia spp.), and hemlocks (Tsuga spp.). Since 1984, Peter has also curated the Larz Anderson Bonsai Collection, conducting extensive research into their origins and leading a comprehensive restoration effort to return them to their traditional design. He has won numerous awards including the Jackson Dawson Memorial Medal from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1986, the Arthur Hoyt Scott Garden and Horticultural Award in 1999, and the Veitch Memorial Medal from The Royal Horticultural Society in 2013.

    Deeply interested in the Arboretum’s historical work in Asia and the introduction of Asian plants, Peter participated in eight collecting expeditions to China for the Arboretum: Hubei Province (1994), Zhejiang Province (1989 and 1995), Jilin Province (1997), Guizhou Province (2002), Jiangxi Province (2004), Sichuan Province (2005), and Chongqing Province (2007). He has also collected a wide variety of plants in various parts of North America. The author of more than 150 scientific and popular articles, Peter has contributed extensively to the Arboretum’s journal, Arnoldia, as writer of more than 60 articles, member of the editorial committee, and as editor from 1989 to 1992.

    From 1992 to 2003, Peter served as Director of Living Collections, stewarding the care and expansion of Arboretum plant holdings and contributing to efforts to improve plant health and to embrace more sustainable methods of landscape maintenance. Through his leadership, the Arboretum renovated its 100-year-old drainage system to improve the hydrology of the landscape, redesigned Chinese Path in what is now the Explorers Garden, and redesigned the summit of Peters Hill.

    In recent years as Senior Research Scientist, Peter has turned his attention to the study of adaptive plants in urban environments. In addition to teaching Harvard students on this topic at the Graduate School of Design, he championed the establishment of the Arboretum’s Bussey Brook Meadow as a preserve for the long-term study of urban ecology and organismic succession in disturbed landscapes. His 2010 book Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: A Field Guide is considered a seminal work in the study of emergent vegetation, providing an objective reassessment of the critical role that naturally-occurring plants play in the health and ecological cycling of urban environments.

    http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/11.04/photos/15-arboretum1.jpg