THURSDAY 11/30 - The Arboretum is CLOSED today due to construction on Hobart Avenue. Check back for updates.

Blog

Boon

Etymologically speaking, the title of this post may or may not be related to the subject of this post – the heirloom gladiolus 'Boone', named for the North Carolina town where it was rediscovered. Boon in the sense of a gift or an unexpected benefit comes from the Old Norse. The name Boone – the town was named after famed frontiersmen Daniel Boone – comes from either the French locale Bohun, or from the Norman word "bon," for good, or from the Dutch word "boene", or bean, denoting someo...

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Resilient

On a lovely morning this past April, Dylan Shapiro and I were trying to move some trees that were destined for the hillside above Reeves-Reed Arboretum's fabled Primrose Path. I had rented a miniature walk-behind tractor called a Dingo, and after we loaded the first Avondale cercis onto the bucket, I realized that the Dingo was seriously overmatched. The tree and its substantial rootball weighed at least 300 pounds, probably more, and the Dingo teetered precariously as we crossed the root-rid...

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What's Beautiful Now? August 2016

August is upon us and with it brings not only the hum of Dog Day Cicadas (Tibicen canicularis), but  fabulous summer flowers and the bugs who love them.  The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) has kindly allowed me to use it as a model in many of the following shots.

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