Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University

Description

The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is a botanical research institution and free public park. It is the oldest public arboretum in North America, and the second largest link in the Emerald Necklace. The collection of temperate trees, shrubs, and vines has a particular emphasis on the plants of the eastern United States and eastern Asia.

Constructed, 1872

Redeveloped, 1946

Factoids

1873 -Charles Sprague Sargent officially began a 54-year term as first director of the Arnold Arboretum. Sargent soon enlisted the aid of pioneering landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted – then busy designing the Boston park system – to help him lay out the grounds. “Olmsted immediately grasped the idea that an arboretum where the public could see varied plantations of rare and exotic trees and shrubs skilfully [sic] selected, artistically arranged, and grown under scientific oversight, would not only be an appropriate feature in the park system [now known as Boston’s “Emerald Necklace”] but might well become its culminating attraction,” Benjamin Lincoln Robinson, the Asa Gray Professor of Systematic Botany, wrote in the late 1920s. Nonetheless, the Arboretum proved a hard sell, Robinson noted. “Neither the City [of Boston] nor the Harvard Corporation welcomed the idea. The press was indifferent, and the public apathetic. Nine years of persistent effort were required before it was possible to draft a plan of procedure acceptable both to the City and to the University and to secure its approval by the General Court of Massachusetts.”

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current

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The Arboretum contains four notable hills: Bussey Hill, Peters Hill, Hemlock Hill, and Weld Hill. Of these, Peters Hill is the tallest at 240 feet

As a primary resource for research in plant biology, the Arboretum's living collections are developed, curated, and managed to support scientific investigation and study

At present, the living collections include 14,980 individual plants (including nursery holdings) belonging to 10,117 accessions representing 3,924 taxa

Beech Path in spring with lilacs in full bloom

The Arboretum occupies 281 acres in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale sections of Boston

The Arnold Arboretum was a key reference for the establishment and development of modern botany in China

The land was deeded to the City of Boston in 1882 and incorporated into the Olmsted-designed parkway that would become known as the Emerald Necklace

1946 - Redeveloped

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1946 - Redeveloped - Images

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Bussey Brook, 1970

James Arnold's gift was combined with 120 acres of land that had been donated to Harvard University in 1842

On Lilac Sunday, garden enthusiasts from all over New England gather at the Arboretum to picnic and tour the lilac collection

1872 - Constructed

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1872 - Constructed - Images

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Bussey Brook facing the Conifer Collection, 1903

The Hunnewell Building under construction, 1892

Bussey Hill, 1890

Dawson Pond, 1929

Buildings at Hemlock Hill under construction, 1892

Lilac collection, 1908

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