Out and About in the Arboretum

Can you believe that this April would be our Eleventh Annual Evening in the Arboretum? Also during 2021, we will celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Barton Arboretum and Nature Preserve.

On a crisp and cool day in February, it is a great time to take a moment to enjoy the beauty of the bark of our River Birch trees.

Always the first flower to bloom in the New Year is the snowdrop. They are readily found in our Atrium Garden. The snowdrops have many meanings and symbols associated with them. The delicate white of the snowdrop symbolizes innocence and purity. Because it is the first flower to bloom at the end of winter and the beginning of spring, it also symbolizes hope, which is always a wonderful feeling for all of us to embrace.

As you are out and about near the Wellness Center, please take a minute to enjoy the new photographic images posted on wall in the waiting area. These shots are from throughout the Arboretum and designed to bring some wonderful images of the Arboretum for folks to enjoy. Please take note in particular our favorite turtle who is represented in the Atrium garden.

With its ever present green holly-like foliage, fragrant yellow flowers in the spring and inky blue berries in the fall, leatherleaf mahonia, Mahonia bealei, adds year-round interest in Court 4 and Court 2 on the Medford Campus, as well as other areas.

Commonly called heavenly bamboo, Nandina domestica, is a broadleaf evergreen shrub that is grown for its interesting foliage and bright red berries. Native to Japan, China and India, this shrub is also at home here in the Barton Arboretum in a number of Courtyard Gardens, including Nine, Eleven and Twelve.