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CMBG horticulture interns along with staff |
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One of the striking views within |
Yesterday, the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens interns were able to go on a very special field trip. We left at the crack of dawn to drive down to Boston, Massachusetts, to visit some of the horticulture hot-spots of the area. After making our way through the crazy city traffic, we found our first stop at The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. This arboretum was established back in 1872; as you probably could have guessed, we ran into some pretty old trees, and I fell in love with all of them. My favorite tree we saw was a Metasequoia glyptostroboides (dawn redwood) in the arboretum parking lot. With the four of us (as seen on your right) connected by our hands, we could just BARELY wrap all of our arms around the entire trunk of the tree! It just so happens that this particular Metasequoia is one of the oldest living specimens in the country and the very tree that inspired Arnold Arboretum’s logo.
We met up with Michael Dosmann (Curator of Living Collections) and Andrew Gapinski (Supervisor of Horticulture) for a short, guided tour of the arboretum. In terms of acreage, Arnold is a bit bigger than CMBG – we have about 250 acres and they have 281. Just think of all of the history in those 281 acres! It seemed like we walked around a large portion of the arboretum, but we definitely didn’t get to see everything. I would say I’m not alone in wishing we had much more time to wander the grounds.
Our next stop was to travel to the other side of town to Mount Auburn Cemetery. At first, fellow horticulture intern Kristin Neill and I were skeptical about visiting a cemetery; it’s not a type of place we visit often. But after stepping inside the gates, we quickly changed our minds. Like Arnold, Mount Auburn has a vast collection of very old and large trees that are simply breathtaking. We were lucky enough to steal away President and CEO Dave Barnett for a while to get a guided tour of the cemetery. We even got to view the mausoleums of some very noteworthy people, such as Isabella Stewart Gardner and George Cabot Lodge. The rich history and beautiful plantings of Mount Auburn truly make it a one-of-a-kind spot in the city of Boston.
-Carrington Flatness, Horticulture Intern (July 26, 2013)
