Arnold Arboretum Gardens – Simcoe County Master Gardener

By Cathy Krar, Master Gardener In Training, SCMG

Rounding off our tour of the East Coast, welcome to Arnold Arboretum Gardens!

The Arnold Arboretum is the oldest public arboretum garden in America. It began in 1872 and was planned out by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Olmsted created this as part of his “Emerald Necklace” series of interconnected parks and serpentine pathways that made an oasis of green ringing the city of Boston.

Olmsted, born in 1822, enjoyed a “vagabond” lifestyle. He loved hunting, fishing and had an amateur interest in any of the natural sciences. He was destined for Yale University until an encounter with poison sumac at the age of 14, temporarily blinded him. Whether this is the absolute truth or not — some argue that he had conjunctivitis. He gave up formal education to travel the world. Luckily for Frederick, his father was a rich dry goods merchant in Hartford, Connecticut and could financially support his son.

Olmsted picked up incidental jobs as a seaman on tea ships to China. He also ran a farm that was purchased by his father on Staten Island. He applied journalistic skills in filing reports for newspapers and journals.

Yet, it wasn’t until a walking tour of England 1850, in a suburb of Liverpool where he was astounded to find Birkenhead Park … a Peoples’ Garden, where all were welcome. This was the first public park to be funded in England.

In his travels, Olmsted also wrote essays about the trim, orderly gardens of Paris and Russia. They had a framed in appearance with a surface of fineness … he believed their designs had a sterile nature. The notion of wilderness stirred up a view of dread, danger, and bewilderment for most people. It would be difficult to drop wilderness into American Cities. Yet, his first design assignment consisted of a rocky landscape with 700 acres of clay pits, swamp, steep ravines, and graveyards. This later became the heart of New York City called Central Park.

Olmstead foresaw the expansion of cities like Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco, and as an early preservationist stressed the value of keeping natural landscapes for unborn generations.

The establishment of this Boston botanical garden marked the first time that trees from all over the world were collected and planted in one area.

The area in question began as part of a $100,000 bequeath left by wealthy merchant James Arnold and a merger of farmland left for Harvard University by Benjamin Bussey. The initial gift was 281 acres located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale sections of Boston. The intent was to use the arboretum as a living collection to support scientific investigation and study, and as a primary resource for research into plant biology. Charles Sprague Sargent was appointed as the director of this venture.

Upon the insistence of the Project Director, Charles Sargent, many species of trees and shrubs were planted along the roadside, so people could compare similarities and differences. For example, a maple from North America looks quite different than one from Japan.

This collaboration was not without its difficulties as Olmsted and Sargent disagreed about the concept of a park and a tree museum. Olmsted worked on revising his planting plans and by 1885, the plans were complete.

Olmstead wanted the trees to appear as they would in nature, so he planted in clumps and left plenty of curving space in between the groupings. Much of his design contained hidden passages along with rolling expanse which created a sense of privacy and mystery.

Initial planting began with permanent collections of beech, ash, elm, and hickory; 120, 000 trees and shrubs were in place by spring of 1887.

Sargent and his staff had travelled widely through Europe, and the Far East, as well as United States to find plants like Japanese wisteria, Chinese dogwoods, tree peonies, and ginkgoes with yellow fan-shaped leaves.

Bridges or buildings were constructed only when it couldn’t be avoided. Even so, Olmsted ensured they were built from locally sourced stone and then draped with vines or shrubs for concealment.

The Arnold Arboretum is a key link in the Emerald Necklace, and 2022 marks the 150ieth anniversary of its inception. I believe this botanical garden during any season would be a worthwhile visit. The landscape features 15,000 individual plants, of which 8,325 are trees. These represent over 2,000 species that have historical and botanical importance. For example, the Arnold Arboretum is home to the Dawn Redwood. There are only 3 varieties of redwood known to man, with only a few thousand specimens on the endangered species list. Deforestation and now climate change pose the most danger. The Dawn Redwood was brought back from the edge of extinction when a small grove was rediscovered in 1944 by a Chinese forester. Seeds were collected and sent to tree collections all around the world.

The spring months at Arnold Arboretum are a riot of colours as azaleas, lilacs and dogwoods come alive. Each year the second Sunday in May is celebrated. It is known as Lilac Sunday, and this is the only day of the year where open picnicking is permitted on the property.

The Arnold Arboretum has been described as an evolutionary fashion show. Katsuras with wonderful heart shaped leaves are grouped together. Lindens with perfumed flowers that attract pollinators and are the basis for delectable honey making. Cork trees have spongy, quirky looking bark. The sassafras trees have mitten shaped leaves and a sweet scent that smells like root beer, fruit loops cereal or citrus. The root bark of the sassafras tree was traditionally used as the source for root beer, until it was found that safrole is cancer-causing. It was banned by the Food and Drug Administration and replaced with artificial flavouring. The Arnold Arboretum has the most significant collection of maples in the world for conservation purposes.

The summer has offerings of full-leafed and other varieties of blooms, while fall displays are every bit as astounding as the spring with Japanese cherry and Harlequin glory bower. Tulip trees have been hybridized after 12 million years. They shared a common ancestor that once grew when the continents were connected.

Today the Arnold Arboretum boasts more than 6,000 different varieties of trees and shrubs with 1,286 of them having appeared for the first time in Northeast America. All the plants in the arboretum are easily accessible to walkers, with each plant clearly labelled with its common and scientific names, age, and origin.

A trip to Arnold Arboretum is a combination of undulating roads and planted areas, promising one visual delight after another, with oaks, magnolias, horse chestnut, cherry, willow on display. Although the grounds are closed to vehicular traffic, roads are paved and well used by bicycles, strollers, and wheelchairs. And… did I mention admission is always FREE!

The Arnold Arboretum is a combination of the artistry of Frederick Law Olmsted and the good taste of Charles Sargent. The layout of the grounds has been compared to a finely woven tapestry. A legacy for all those who enjoy trees and quiet open space.