Corporate Partnerships Corporate Partnerships Image Morris Arboretum & Gardens offers many ways to align your company’s brand with one of the region’s most renowned outdoor cultural destinations. Partnership opportunities include public programs, special events, exhibitions, educational programs, and more. See below for more information about our most popular opportunities. To include the Morris in your corporate social responsibility or marketing program, please contact Leslie Crane at 215-247-5777 ext.152 or lcrane@upenn.edu. Partnership Opportunities Image Moonlight & Roses Morris Arboretum & Gardens’ annual fundraising gala. Contact Kristen Casalenuovo at kcasal@upenn.edu for more information. Learn More Image ArBOOretum A month-long celebration of fall including special themed events, classes, and programming.  Image Holiday Garden Railway From the end of November through December, the miniature Garden Railway is lit up with thousands of twinkling lights. Includes special night-time ticketed events. Image Children's Education Free admission programs for Title I school children and other under-resourced audiences. Gifts through the EITC program are accepted for select programs. Image Free Active-Duty Military Admission Program Supports free admission to all active-duty military and up to five family members. Thank you to our corporate supporters: $25,000 and up Image       $10,000 – $24,999 Image       Image       Image     Image                       $5,000 - $9,999 Bank of America Corporation Bartlett Tree Experts Field Operations Penn Business Services Penn Division of Finance Penn Facilities & Real Estate Services Reed Smith Springer Capital, LLC The Haverford Trust Company The Hill at Whitemarsh Wawa WTW $2,500 - $4,999 Bergmann Associates Allied Universal CCI Consulting Harth Builders Health Advocate, Inc. Nina Schneider-Design, Inc. Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP Pennoni Associates, Inc. Robinson Anderson Summers Inc. Landscape Architects Russell …

Morris Arboretum & Gardens Receives Grant From William Penn Foundation to Support ACCESS March 10, 2026 Morris Arboretum & Gardens has received a new $304,980 grant from the William Penn Foundation to support access to the Morris by families and individuals with low incomes and/or disabilities. The grant is one of six totaling $7.6 million given to the most-visited organizations in Philadelphia that participate in the Harvey and Virginia Kimmel Family Fund ACCESS Program , a region-wide initiative administered by Art-Reach that enables affordable entry to cultural sites for individuals receiving public assistance for food or medical benefits. A grant was also awarded to Art-Reach to subsidize the ongoing costs of operating this important program. “We are deeply grateful to the William Penn Foundation for this generous support,” said Executive Director William Cullina. “This grant affirms our long-standing commitment to welcoming children, families, and individuals of all abilities and incomes to the Morris Arboretum & Gardens. With this investment, we can continue to offer meaningful, high-quality experiences that ensure everyone in our region feels they belong here.” The ACCESS program at Morris has grown substantially over the years. In Fiscal Year 2023, more than 8,000 people took advantage of the $2 admission to the arboretum. That number rose to 10,497 in Fiscal Year 2025, which represents one out of every six non-member admissions. In addition to the ACCESS program, the Morris provides free admission to active-duty service members and their families, and free admission and transportation to underserved school children in Philadelphia. The William Penn Foundation grant awards are intended to help sustain and expand participation by Philadelphia-based institutions in the ACCESS program and to support Art-Reach as the program administrator. Grants are to be used to support functions such as visitor services, staffing, operating, and capital costs that are …

What's Up, Buttercup: Identifying Early Spring-Blooming Members of the Buttercup Family Every year, we eagerly await the arrival of winter aconites; however, it can be a bit confusing identifying these flowers from their lookalike relatives in the buttercup family. Every year, we eagerly await the arrival of winter aconites. These dainty flowers portend the end of winter and the approach of spring. Their cheerful, cup-shaped  yellow blossoms can brighten even the dullest of winter days. Winter aconites, part of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae), aren’t actually bulbs—they're tubers, which are modified fleshy stems that persist underground (think potatoes). Every late winter, they push their flowers up on tiny leafy stalks, sometimes even through the snow, to let us know it's time for the seasons to change. Image Winter aconite, part of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae), is an early spring harbinger that blooms in late winter.  To make things a bit confusing, there are actually two species that can be called winter aconite: Eranthis hyemalis and Eranthis cilicica .  E. hyemalis is a plant native to Europe, with a range that stretches from southern France through the Balkans and into Bulgaria. E. cilicica is a separate but closely related species from the Middle East, with a range that extends from southern Turkey through Syria and into western Iran. Despite their close geographical proximity, there are a few easy ways to distinguish between the two species. E. hyemalis has a coarser leaf texture and blooms earlier. E. cilicica has a much more finely dissected leaf texture and blooms a bit later. Image E. cilicica is native to the Middle East and has a much more finely dissected leaf texture and blooms a bit later than E. hyemalis . Image E. hyemalis, native to Europe,   has a coarser leaf texture and blooms earlier than  E. cilicica.   A commonly confused relative of winter aconite is the Amur adonis or pheasant’s eye ( Adonis amurensis ). Like winter aconite, …

Garden Explorer Garden Explorer Image Garden Explorer - COMING SOON! Stay tuned for the release of our brand new Garden Explorer. Plant Collection More than 11,000 accessioned plants of over 2,500 taxa are growing in the Morris’s living collection. These include representatives of the temperate floras of North America, Asia, and Europe. This historic collection traces its foundation to John Morris’s interest in plants from around the world and includes plants collected in China by E.H. Wilson at the turn of the century. Many of the Delaware Valley’s "trees-of-record" (the largest of their kind) are found in the Morris. Most notable are the katsura and the trident maple.  Image Staff members have regularly engaged in plant collecting expeditions in Asia and the United States, increasing the different kinds of plants available for today’s urban and community landscapes. Currently, plants from 30 countries are represented in the collection with a primary focus on Asian temperate species. Significant plant groups in the Morris’s collection include maples, magnolia species, native azaleas, members of the witchhazel family, roses, hollies, and conifers.  Help Protect Our Trees  Please note, visitors are not allowed to climb or sit on the limbs of trees . The Morris is home to a number of  champion trees , some of which are very old. With 150,000 visitors annually, climbing becomes a safety issue for both children and the trees. We don’t want any visitors or trees to break a limb. Thank you!  Seasonal Plants  With the range of our collections, there is seasonal interest throughout the year, for all levels of gardeners. Look for the following plants throughout the year:  Image December through February  Paperbark maple, stewartia, kousa dogwoods, hollies, and rare and unusual conifers of all shapes, sizes and colors.  March through June  Witchhazels, winterhazels, magnolias, cherries, maples, dogwoods, rhododendrons, azaleas, crabapples, roses, and stewartia.  July through …