Groundbreaking in 2025 for New Garden Railway Train Shed The Garden Railway train shed "tent" to be replaced with a design inspired by historic Chestnut Hill train station. The Garden Railway will have a new look in spring 2025—the nearby train shed “tent” will be replaced with a structure featuring a playful design inspired by the landmark Chestnut Hill West Station newsstand on Germantown Avenue, complete with crooked fascia. The new train shed will provide more space, storage, and better shelter to trainmasters Bruce Morrell and his grandson, Josh Faia, and the staff and volunteers who help keep the trains running. Executive Director Bill Cullina says it will enhance the guest experience, increase accessibility, and celebrate the past while embracing the future. Image The landmark Chestnut Hill West Station newsstand on Germantown Avenue is the inspiration for the new Garden Railway train shed.  “It’s a really cool project because it solves a functional need of replacing the old canvas tent that’s there now,” said Cullina. “It’s also a celebration of the history of trains and Chestnut Hill, and how trains were so formative to the development of Chestnut Hill and the community.” Cullina said while it’s not a scale replica of the newsstand, it will have the same Victorian details—the green, tan, and red paint scheme, and the iconic and charming crooked roofline. There will be an enclosed space outfitted with benchtops, lighting, and shelving to store the extra trains and equipment. An L-shaped 8-foot-deep porch with seating will provide visitors with shelter from the weather and a great spot to watch the goings-on in the garden. Image The current tent shelters the train masters and equipment for the Garden Railway. The new structure comes by way of a $300,000 commitment by longtime Morris members Radclyffe “Mike” Thompson and his wife, Maria Thompson, who has been newly elected to the Advisory Board. Their gift will also establish an endowment to ensure ongoing …

Millions of Years of Movement: New data shows tropical mallow plants heading out of Madagascar On islands like Madagascar, a particularly high proportion of plants have been introduced via long-distance dispersal, and recent research demonstrates that Madagascar has also been a prominent source for dispersal of plants to other places, including the tropical plant group Dombeyoideae. The history of botanical evolution is full of slim chances: Some fruits or seeds get swept up in a storm or lodged in a bird’s feathers and carried across an ocean. In some instances, this long-distance dispersal can lead to rapid variegation as new species evolve from the founding ancestor(s). On islands like Madagascar, a particularly high proportion of plants have been introduced via long-distance dispersal. While islands have long been recognized as important “sinks”—or places where plants are introduced via dispersal—a new paper in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution improves on our current knowledge by demonstrating that Madagascar has also been a prominent source for dispersal of plants to other places. Co-first authors Cynthia Skema, botanical scientist at Morris Arboretum & Gardens, and Timothée Le Péchon, research scientist at Meise Botanic Garden in Belgium, along with Lucile Jourdain-Fievet and Jean-Yves Dubuisson, both of Sorbonne University in Paris, studied the evolutionary and biogeographic history of the Dombeyoideae. Dombeyoideae is a group of tropical plants that are part of the cotton family (Malvaceae), falling somewhere between cotton and cacao. The researchers found that this group dispersed from Madagascar to Africa five times more than from Africa to Madagascar. “This paper completely underlines this sort of percolating idea that Madagascar is really a source [for plant dispersal] too, and a source for [plant dispersal to] continents, which is really interesting,” explains Skema. Image Dombeya rottleroides , a member of Dombeyoideae. For the project, Skema and …

Call for Proposals: Ecotopian Tools for Multispecies Flourishing The Open Call for “Ecotopian Tools for Multispecies Flourishing” is officially accepting proposals—now through March 1, 2024! Image The Open Call for “Ecotopian Tools for Multispecies Flourishing” is officially accepting proposals—now through March 1, 2024! Presented in collaboration with the Penn Program of Environmental Humanities (PPEH), we invite artists and designers of all kinds to introduce “ecotopian” tools that might be used by visitors and inhabitants of Morris to support varied, multi-species communities, including humans, amidst the ongoing climate crisis. Successful proposals will be explored in public workshops at Morris Arboretum & Gardens in spring 2024. They will dig deep–not just into the sciences at Morris, but also into the histories and stories that shape this place today. They will work to find ways to engage the public to think about how they can help build healthy and just futures for all humans and non-humans alike. Visit the links below to learn more about the Ecotopian Toolkit and how to apply. Contact the PPEH lab with any questions at ppehlab-director@sas.upenn.edu . Learn More Image 2024 Call for Proposals Learn more about the 2024 Morris + PPEH Call for Ecotopian Tools for Multispecies Flourishing and how to apply.  Learn More Image Meet the Jury Meet the 2024 Ecotopian Toolkit jury, including two Morris staff: William Cullina, F. Otto Haas Executive Director, and Bryan Thompson-Nowak, Director of Education. Learn More Image An Interview with Bryan Thompson-Nowak PPEH's program coordinator, Megan Pollin Hernandez sat down with Director of Education at Morris, Bryan Thompson-Nowak, to talk about the foundation of this year’s theme—soil—and how the Morris works to be a steward of and partner with the earth under our feet. Learn More Blog Image February 22, …

A Look Inside the Morris Arboretum Herbarium An herbarium is a lot like a library, except instead of books it holds botanical specimens. The Morris Arboretum Herbarium contains more than 25,000 specimens, all of which have been digitized. From pressed orchids to parasitic mistletoe to oak branches with acorns, the Herbarium hosts a varied array of plants.   Emily Humphreys is the the Eli Kirk Price Plant Science Fellow. In September of 1994, a party of botanists from across the U.S. and China traversed a set of steep cliffs searching for lacebark pine ( Pinus bungeana ). While the botanists found several trees, they all grew on slopes too steep and treacherous to navigate. Finally, Dr. Riming Hao of Nanjing Botanic Garden, in a great show of bravery, climbed one of the trees that stretched over the cliffside, collecting seeds and a cutting that were brought back to the Morris Arboretum. Today, that cutting resides in the Arboretum’s Herbarium.*  Image A little bit of extra glue was applied to keep this leaf stuck down. What’s an herbarium?  An herbarium is a lot like a library, except instead of books it holds botanical specimens. Each specimen features a pressed and dried plant, which can include anything from a tiny flower, roots and all, to a dense tuft of moss, to a cutting of a tree branch like the one Dr. Hao collected. This plant is glued on a special piece of herbarium paper. While the glue and paper are specially formulated to preserve the plants, the general process of mounting a specimen is not too different from a craft project. In addition to the plant itself, the specimen also carries information about that plant in the form of a label. The information on these labels varies widely, but most feature an identification for the plant, the location and date it was collected, and the name of the collector. Finally, some specimens have a little folded packet that is meant to hold any bits or pieces that fall off of the dried plant in its long tenure as a …

Four Flourishing Ferns in the Fernery In these final days of winter, as both plants and people get anxious for spring, we are searching for signs of growth—and the Dorrance H. Hamilton Fernery is the perfect place to be surrounded by lush greenery. In these final days of winter, as both plants and people get anxious for spring, we are searching for signs of growth—and the  Dorrance H. Hamilton Fernery  is the perfect place to be surrounded by lush greenery. Kyra Matin, Plant Propagator at the Morris Arboretum, highlights four ferns that are currently flourishing in the Fernery and that you can see on your next visit to the Arboretum. She will also be leading the class  Propagating Ferns   on Saturday, March 19 where she will be teaching the magic that is propagating ferns by spore!   Kyra is also on the board of the  Hardy Fern Foundation  and runs their  social media  (where you can often see photos from our Fernery, including  Buzzy our resident cat ) so needless to say, she knows her ferns! She started working at the Arboretum in October, moving to Philadelphia from the Pacific Northwest (“a very ferny part of the country,” she says), and is thrilled to tend to the Fernery at the Morris Arboretum. Image Pyrrosia lingua (felt fern or tongue fern) Pyrrosia lingua  is one of the easier  Pyrrosias  to grow, but it’s just out of reach hardiness-wise for planting outside in Philadelphia. Fortunately, we can enjoy it in the Fernery! The common name for  P. lingua  is felt or tongue fern. Common names, like scientific names, often describe characteristics of the plant in question. Felt or tongue fern are apt descriptors for  P. lingua  because the fronds feel like felt and their shape is reminiscent of a tongue.  Lingua , the species name, is the Latin word for tongue. There are fifty-one species in the genus  Pyrrosia . They have a wide native range, spanning across Africa and Asia, into Australia, New Zealand, and Polynesia—with a concentration of species variety in …

Urban Forestry Fellow Attends Sustainable Forestry Initiative Conference as a Youth Delegate This past June, Matt Walker, the Martha S. Miller and Rusty Miller Urban Forestry Fellow, attended the Sustainable Forestry Initiative’s (SFI) annual conference in Atlanta as a youth delegate. This past June I had the unique and profound experience of attending the Sustainable Forestry Initiative’s (SFI) annual conference in Atlanta as a youth delegate. Among the 49 other youth delegates there were students and young professionals from many varied backgrounds. Hailing from all over the United States and Canada, they were each dedicated to taking care of the world’s forests. I was eager to meet the cohort and start the conference. SFI’s mission is to “advance sustainability through forest-focused collaboration.” The extremely passionate people at SFI do fantastic work in areas critical to forest sustainability such as creating forestry standards, conducting research, strengthening community, and educating people about the importance of trees and forests. Their annual conference reflects the collaborative nature of the organization, with representation from logging companies, forest scientists, conservationists, Indigenous leaders, and, of course, the youth delegation. Image SFI’s new strategic direction is guided by Standards, Conservation, Community, and Education. We were greeted in Atlanta by SFI staff dedicated to advancing green careers. Before the conference began, we were guided through sessions that taught us networking skills and gave us the confidence to reach out to people at the conference to advance our careers. Delegates were also assigned mentors, who were professionals in various fields of forestry, to help us make connections with their colleagues. With these new skills, and a fresh stack of personalized business cards made for us, we were released to the conference. As much as conferences are about learning the newest research, technology, and tree …

Birds as Artistic Muse Longtime members and frequent birders Ken Januski and Jerene Schroeder say the Morris is inspiration for art. Image Since 1998, Ken Januski and Jerene Schroeder have been members and frequent birders at the Morris. Their birding journey has strong roots here, offering them  some of their first major sightings as well as inspiration for Ken’s nature-based artwork. Now, twenty-six years later, Ken is ranked as Morris’s top birder on eBird , having seen 160 species in the Gardens so far. But Ken and Jerene aren’t in it for the numbers. The married couple realized the potential of birding at the Morris when, during a visit to the now defunct plant sale, they heard the call of yellow-throated vireos in the trees. They soon started birding at the Morris twice a week, and years later they even volunteered to monitor the bluebird boxes at Bloomfield Farm. One reason the couple enjoys birding at the Morris is the variety and vastness of the Natural Areas . Ken often brings his spotting scope, which needs a lot of space, and he found he could comfortably set up in the Wetland . The scope not only offers a more magnified view than binoculars, but it also enables an artist to watch birds with two free hands to draw. “A lot of my education about birds occurred from drawing them at the Morris,” says Ken. “Most people don’t work that way—they work from photographs, but you miss so much in photographs. Plus, there’s not the thrill.” Image American Goldfinch Eating Thistle, Multi-block Woodcut, 2014. By Ken Januski. Image Green Heron with Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Reduction Linocut, 2013. By Ken Januski.                     Ken started his art career as an abstract painter, receiving an MA from Berkeley and an MFA from Cornell in Studio Art. He got disenchanted with the contemporary art world in the early 1990s, when too much verbiage began accompanying artwork. He began looking toward nature, and when him and Jerene joined as Morris members, the world of birds …

The Pennsylvania Bee Monitoring Program at the Morris Arboretum Have you noticed a blue vane trap hanging around the Morris Arboretum? It's part of the Pennsylvania Bee Monitoring Program, which studies regional bee variance across the state. Image A pinned sunflower bee (Svastra obliqua). Credit: Ryan Drake Have you noticed a blue vane trap hanging around the Morris Arboretum? It's part of the  Pennsylvania Bee Monitoring Program , which studies regional bee variance across the state. The decline in populations worldwide has called attention to better understand the variation, distribution, and abundance of wild bee pollinators. The bee monitoring program uses three different trapping techniques in order to catch the widest variety of bee species. The blue vane trap hangs two to three feet from the ground, attracting bees with its bright blue color. Nine plastic bowls painted either white, blue, or yellow are laid on the ground in a transect, closer to the populations of ground nesting bees, which make up over 70% of Pennsylvania's bee populations. The final trapping technique is netting, where monitors use butterfly nets to catch any other unique bees they can find in the area. These techniques combined aim to allow monitors to observe the fullest range of wild bee species in an area so they can track changes in population sizes and variety in Pennsylvania. Image The blue vane trap hangs two to three feet from the ground, attracting bees with its bright blue color. Image The final trapping technique is netting, where monitors use butterfly nets to catch any other unique bees they can find in the area. Shown here is Caroline Mertz, the Hay Honey Farm Natural Areas Intern. Image Sorting and identifying collected bees. Image Pinning bees. Image Long-horned bee (Melissodes denticulatus, female). 1 / PREV NEXT Caroline Mertz Ryan Drake Blog Image September 7, …