Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens
Encyclopedia
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The Arboretum started in 1913, when Dr. Francis A. Bartlett
Francis A. Bartlett
Francis A. Bartlett, an eminent dendrologist, graduated from Massachusetts Agricultural College, now the University of Massachusetts, in 1905 . Dr...
, an eminent dendrologist and founder of the F.A. Bartlett Tree Expert Company, acquired "30 acres [12 hectares] more or less" of North Stamford
North Stamford
North Stamford is section of Stamford, Connecticut north of the Merritt Parkway. Often hilly and woodsy, it is less densely developed than the rest of the city....
woodland to use as his residence, training school and research laboratory for his company. Over the years he assembled a large number of plant specimens on the property from all over the world. In 1965, when the research laboratory moved to North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, the Stamford site, then covering more than 60 acres (24 hectares), was purchased by the State of Connecticut and designated the Connecticut State Arboretum. In 1993, the land and overall operation of the Arboretum were transferred to the University of Connecticut
University of Connecticut
The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...
at Stamford. In 2001, the land was transferred to the City of Stamford and operations were transferred to the Bartlett Arboretum Association an independent non-profit organization. The Bartlett Arboretum Association continues to operate the grounds today.
In January 2007, the Arboretum started offering a landscaping class for Spanish-speaking landscapers. Although taught in English, key words and expressions are translated into Spanish. The landscapers are taught subjects such as proper planting, mulching and pruning, and safety rules, and they receive a certificate at the end of the course.
In 2006 the Arboretum began numerous research programs, continuing the tradition of research begun by Dr. Bartlett nearly a century earlier. Current research focuses on local plant ecology such as floristics and herbivory responses of Connecticut Forests, and the ecology and evolution of tropical plants, particularly the Araceae. This work has led to several published research papers by staff in the past few years.
The Herbarium of the Bartlett Arboretum, open to the public Monday - Thursday and by appointment, is a rapidly expanding collection of over 3500 specimens. The Arboretum plans a doubling of this collection by 2009. While most specimens are from the Northeastern United States, the collection also houses material from the Southeastern United States and Adjacent Mexico (200), the Caribbean (100), Amazonian Peru (150), the former Soviet Union (200),and Africa (100).
This collection includes approximately 2,500 species of vascular plants, and 1,000 species of Bryophyte. The collection currently houses one type specimen.
Collections
The Arboretum contains the following collections:- The Conifer Garden is a collection of conifers, including: TsugaTsugaTsuga is a genus of conifers in the family Pinaceae. The common name hemlock is derived from a perceived similarity in the smell of its crushed foliage to that of the unrelated plant poison hemlock....
(hemlock), Pinus (pine), Picea (spruce), Abies (fir), ThujaThujaThuja is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae . There are five species in the genus, two native to North America and three native to eastern Asia...
(arborvitae), ChamaecyparisChamaecyparisChamaecyparis is a genus of conifers in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to eastern Asia and western and eastern North America. In the nursery trade it is often incorrectly known as "false cypress" for lack of other common name, so as to distinguish it from other similar genera bearing...
(false cypress), Juniperus (juniper), CryptomeriaCryptomeriaCryptomeria is a monotypic genus of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae formerly belonging to the family Taxodiaceae; it includes only one species, Cryptomeria japonica . It is endemic to Japan, where it is known as Sugi...
(Japanese temple pine) and TaxusTaxusTaxus is a genus of yews, small coniferous trees or shrubs in the yew family Taxaceae. They are relatively slow-growing and can be very long-lived, and reach heights of 1-40 m, with trunk diameters of up to 4 m...
(yew).
- The Mehlquist Garden is a unique collection of RhododendronRhododendronRhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...
s and AzaleaAzaleaAzaleas are flowering shrubs comprising two of the eight subgenera of the genus Rhododendron, Pentanthera and Tsutsuji . Azaleas bloom in spring, their flowers often lasting several weeks...
s of native, Japanese, Korean and European origins: established by Dr. Gustav A.L. Mehlquist, Professor Emeritus of Plant Science at the University of Connecticut.
- The Nut Tree Collection is a grove planted by Frances Bartlett which includes Carya illinoinensis (pecanPecanThe pecan , Carya illinoinensis, is a species of hickory, native to south-central North America, in Mexico from Coahuila south to Jalisco and Veracruz, in the United States from southern Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana east to western Kentucky, southwestern Ohio, North Carolina, South...
s), Juglans sp. (walnutWalnutJuglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
s), heartnuts, filbertFilbertCorylus maxima, the Filbert, is a species of hazel native to southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia, from the Balkans to Ordu in Turkey....
s, hicanHicanA Hican is a tree resulting from a cross between a pecan and some other type of hickory members of the genus Carya - or the nut from such a hybrid tree. Such crosses often occur naturally. While most such hybrids produce unfilled nuts or have other serious flaws, some have desirable qualities from...
s, and a hardy ChestnutChestnutChestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
hybrid.
- The Pollarded Tree Display features deciduousDeciduousDeciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
trees kept compact by means of a special pruning technique called pollarding.
- The newly added Magnolia Collection is an area planted along the entrance roadway which contains numerous species including, but not limited to Magnolia tripetala, M. acuminata, M. sieboldii and M. virginiana
- The TheaceaeTheaceaeThe Theaceae is a family of flowering plants, composed of shrubs and trees. Some botanists include the family Ternstroemiaceae within the Theaceae while others do not...
collection, added in 2007, contains numerous species of the Tea family including Camellias, Gordonias, Franklinias, and Stewartias.
Habitats
- The Arboretum’s meadow is a managed habitat. During the early twentieth century, abandoned farm fields became wildflower meadows rich in birds, bees, and butterflies. When tree seedlings in these meadows grew into forests, the wildflower meadows and wildlife that depended on them became scarce. The Arboretum established this meadow in 2000 as an example of a sustainable landscape that provides needed habitat and esthetic beauty. Depending on the time of year, you can see wildflowers such as Coreopsis, Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), Beard-tongue (Penstemon digitalis), Goblet Aster (Aster lateriflorus), Blue-eyed Grass (Sysrinchium sp.), Lupine (Lupinussp.) and Spiderwort (Tradescantia sp.) as well as many others. It is mowed annually in early April to prevent it from returning to forest.
- The Woodland Pond was created by a dam where the water pauses before spilling over to Poorhouse Brook and running south to Long Island Sound. A pond is a water body small enough that its waves do not erode the soil on its banks and shallow enough for aquatic plants to root in the bottom and still reach the surface. If your visit is in the summer you will notice the round leaves and pale pink flowers of Pond Lilies (Nuphar advea) in the middle and the arrow-shaped leaves of Arrow Arum (Peltandra verginica) around the edges. When the Arrow Arum flower has gone to seed the weight of the seeds bends the stalk over and it sinks into the muddy bottom; in this way the seeds plant themselves.
- The Red Maple Wetland is a favorite spot for area naturalists and ecologists because it is one of the only accessible Red Maple swamps in the area not significantly affected by either development or non-native invasive plants.