— Gertrude Jekyll

2025 Winterfire Rescheduled for February 8th

5:00PM - 7:00PM

It's time for one of our most popular family events: Winterfire! Winterfire combines lightscape with landscape to highlight the arboretum's signature trees and garden features against a deep mid-winter sky. Enjoy the gardens in the winter twilight while sipping some hot chocolate around an open fire. This is a fun, family-friendly event. 

Subject to cancellation due to weather; see www.wakefieldtrust.org or our Facebook page for any last-minute changes. Dress warmly and bring a friend! While this event is free, we encourage folks to register here.

The Mary May Binney Wakefield Arboretum receives the 2025 Jean Iseli Memorial Grant

The Mary May Binney Wakefield Arboretum is so honored to receive the 2025 Jean Iseli Memorial Grant to continue expanding our plant collection. As a Reference Garden for the American Conifer Society, we must share our knowledge about conifers and offer our visitors opportunities to see the many variations of these amazing plants. Because of Iseli Nursery's generous offer to match this grant with plant material, we are assembling an incredible list of new plants to be installed in the garden in the spring of 2025. We are also working toward becoming a Level lll Certified Arboretum. In order to attain this certification, we need to have 500 species, varieties or cultivars of trees or woody plants in the collection. With this grant we can achieve that goal. This winter The Mary May Binney Wakefield Arboretum is installing a 24-acre deer fence to protect the gardens from the heavy deer pressure in the New England area. Once the fence is installed new gardens will be developed throughout the landscape. These gardens will be greatly improved by additions from Iseli. The arboretum will host an American Conifer Society rendezvous on June 8th to celebrate these new additions to the collection. We hope you can join us!

The piazza porch of the Davenport Mansion will be restored this spring

Early photograph of the Polly Wakefield's ancestors on the piazza porch of the Davenport Mansion

Preserving Historic Resources at the Mary May Binney Wakefield Arborteum

The Trustees of the Arboretum are working to protect the historic resources of the property. The Trust has employed Gerard O'Doherty's preservation firm to restore the historic porch on the front of the Davenport Mansion.

Winter Forage Floral Program a Big Success

Milton Garden Club member, Georgia Lee led a well attended class at the Wakefield Arboretum that focused on foraging plant material in the winter landscape. On a cold January day, twenty-four plant enthusiasts had a winter tour of the garden then headed into the Davenport Mansion for a class with Georgia.

Winter pruning

Ellen Scheid pollarding the Tilia. Pollarding is the aggressive cutting back of the upper branches of a tree to the secondary branches near the trunk of the tree. In the spring the branches will sprout new growth in a dense pattern. This process on these trees allows visitors to see the dogwood blooms below these trees.

Matthew Noiseux clearing property line for the deer fence.

Students from Nobels and Greenough help with the sanding and painting of new gates.

Winter Work in the Garden



Visitors often ask us how we spend the winter. We have been clearing the property line for the new deer fence, pruning trees and shrubs and cleaning up after winter storms. We are also in the process of building new gates for the garden. Students from Nobels and Greenough help with the sanding and painting.