Spring/Summer 2022
Spring has sprung on Bard’s campus!
From the prolonged winter came an explosion of blooming bulbs, shrubs, and trees! And what a welcome sight for sore eyes it was. The extended cool temperatures allowed us to enjoy the season’s splendor even longer. Thank you Mother Nature!
This spring, the Arboretum is not only celebrating the return to warmer temperatures but also our 15th anniversary! On this pivotal occasion, we will be offering a unique public educational exhibit on Fredrick Law Olmstead – the nation’s founder of landscape architecture in celebration of his 200th birthday. Please make sure to stop by the Bertelsmann Campus Center between May 26th and July 29th!
We are also excited to launch our newly emerging education program with an initiative called the Horticulture Guild. It will be a unique opportunity for students to gain hands-on horticulture experience by learning and working alongside our experienced staff in a historic garden and park-like setting.
Moreover, the College will be offering a new undergraduate class in the fall titled "Landscape Studies: The Hudson River Valley" taught by Prof. Jana Mader. Students will critically engage with the complex past, present, and possible future of the Hudson River and the lands of the Bard College campus.
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Our Buildings and Grounds team is currently working hard to get our campus ready for Commencement Weekend. This year will be a special year: three classes will celebrate their graduates!
Cheers Bardians, and congratulations from the Bard Arboretum! We wish everyone a wonderful graduation weekend and a happy start to the summer!
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Amy Parrella ‘99
Arboretum Director
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Education at the Bard Arboretum |
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🌿 Horticulture Guild Starts Up This Summer
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The Horticulture Guild will introduce Bard students to the field of horticulture and several rewarding opportunities within it. They will be exposed to professional concepts and techniques in the field today and be able to apply what they learn to other fields of study. They will not only learn the professional way to weed, edge, prune, plant and mulch, but they will gain a deeper understanding of the “why“ through hands-on practice.
Bard’s unique horticultural legacy has personal ties to the field of horticulture. Dr. Samuel Bard, the grandfather of John Bard, whom Bard College was named after – was one of the earliest trained horticulturalists in the United States, who also helped layout one of the first botanic gardens in what is now New York City, and started one of the first arboretums in Hyde Park, NY. Additionally, he erected one of the first greenhouses in America.
Narratives around Bard’s Montgomery Place Campus include the history of the Native Americans, colonialism, slave and tenant farmer-driven agriculture, and ornamental and recreational gardening and landscape design. All of these facets of horticulture deeply contribute to the sense of place-based learning and doing.
In short, Bard’s living laboratory, landscape, and arboretum offer the blueprint for a rich understanding of the history of horticulture to students who are willing to “dig in” and join the Horticulture Guild.
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🌿 New Fall Course For Our Undergraduates: "Landscape Studies: The Hudson River Valley"
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We are excited about this new undergraduate course taught by Prof. Jana Mader. From the course catalog:
For centuries, the land on which the Bard Arboretum now sits has been inhabited and used by diverse societies and cultures. In this course, students learn to critically engage with the existing landscape and vegetation to unfold “the story” of the land now owned by Bard College. By confronting the narratives that shaped these lands from an interdisciplinary perspective, students can build skills to become informed and impactful agents of change. Particular areas of inquiry include the Hudson River Valley in art, literature, music, and film; the history of Native Americans, colonialism, and slavery in the region; horticulture, bio-diversity, and native plants of the Hudson River Valley (living collection). We will explore the past, present, and possible future of the Hudson River Valley through a series of primary and secondary sources including fiction and nonfiction works of literature, visual art, film, etc. Meetings will be held in the classroom, and outdoors at the Bard Arboretum, Montgomery Place, and Blithewood; we will observe and study the actual river, our native plants, and learn more about how our current home and what we see in it have changed over time.
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🌿 Frederick Law Olmstead (FLO) Exhibit Marks 200th Birthday Of America’s Founder Of Landscape Architecture
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Bard Arboretum is thrilled to honor Frederick Law Olmstead's 200th anniversary of his birth with an educational exhibit: Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscapes for the Public Good. The exhibit includes 23 panels of vivid photos and drawings, exploring the many facets of Olmsted’s life and legacy. It was curated by Dr. Caroline Mesrobian Hickman of the University of Maryland and in conjunction with the Oak Spring Garden Foundation.
The exhibit will be on display at the Bertelsmann Campus Center, first floor, May 26 - July 29, 2022. Make sure to stop by!
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Events at the Bard Arboretum |
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🌿 Our Arboretum Walks Just Returned For The Season! |
The beloved campus landscape walkabouts have commenced and will once again be offered on the third Thursday of the month, May through November, 12:30 pm-1:30 pm.
New on-campus meet-up locations will be determined each month and announced via email.
Walks are given by Bard College Horticulture Staff and are free and open to the public, rain or shine.
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🌿 Arboretum Celebrates The 150th Anniversary Of Arbor Day
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Friday, April 29th marked the 150th anniversary of Arbor Day, day that reflects appreciation of all trees, founded by J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska in 1872. Arbor Day is now celebrated on the last Friday of April across the United States. On the very first Arbor Day, Morton led the planting of approximately 1 million trees. One hundred fifty years later, Americans are still planting! One of the main goals of the annual tree planting holiday is to educate the public about the benefits of trees, from shade and moderated air temperatures to improved air quality, noise moderation, filtration of run-off into streams and rivers, reduction of energy consumption, and the creation of habitats and food for wildlife.
Bard celebrated Arbor Day with a double tree planting with Maiden Tree (Ginkgo biloba) at the Bertelsmann Campus Center and a Norway Spruce (Picea abies) at Manor Dormitory.
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🌿 Ribbon Cutting Ceremony For The Restoration Of Blithewood’s Historic Vista Took Place May 13th
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In 2020, the Blithewood Historic Vista Restoration project received a grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (NYS DEC) Hudson River Estuary Program and the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC) to restore one of the original views of the Hudson River from Blithewood mansion on the Bard campus. A 1947 aerial photograph of Blithewood, taken by Elie Shneour ’47 and recently discovered online by Bard horticulturist Dan McKenna, showed three vistas from the mansion, including a southern perspective that had become obscured over time. The restoration project is featured in the recently published DEC handbook, Creating and Maintaining Hudson River Views: A Handbook for Landowners.
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🌿 Remember Loved Ones On Memorial Day with A Gift To The Arboretum
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Give a gift that grows! Your donation to the Bard Arboretum in memory or in honor of someone you love, a veteran, or a friend is a unique way to treasure their place in your heart.
To give a gift, visit our website here.
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The Bard Arboretum in The News: |
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🌿 Blithewood Gets Featured In Cottages and Gardens: 10 Of New York’s Best, And Quietest, Gardens
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"Built in 1903, this walled garden at Bard College hews to the tenets of classical Italian garden design, with stunning views of the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains in the distance."
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🌿 Montgomery Place Now Has Its Own Instagram Account! |
Follow @montgomeryplacebard to get the latest news about Montgomery Place at Bard College. |
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Thank you for your interest and for your continued
support for the Bard Arboretum and its beautiful gardens.
Have a wonderful beginning to summer!
🌿 🌿 🌿
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