New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill is a 171-acre

botanic garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

and

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

located in

Boylston, Massachusetts Boylston is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,849 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History Boylston was first settled by Europeans around 1706 in the nor ...

, approximately north of central

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

Worcester County, Massachusetts Worcester County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 862,111, making it the second-most populous county in Massachusetts while also b ...

. The Garden features 18 distinct gardens, preserved woodlands, and miles of walking trails. It was founded in 1986 on the former Tower Hill Farm by the

Worcester County Horticultural Society The Worcester County Horticultural Society is a non-profit American horticulture, horticultural society based in Boylston, Massachusetts, USA, whose stated mission in 2014 was to "inspire the use and appreciation of horticulture to improve lives, e ...

, which maintains its headquarters here and is the third oldest horticultural society in the U.S.

Features

The Stoddard Education and Visitors Center — the hub for visitor activities at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill. The complex houses: Farmer & The Fork Cafe; Garden Shop; a 100-seat theater; four classrooms and conference space; and the Library with horticulture, gardening, and botany books, magazines, DVDs, and archival materials.

Collections and gardens

New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill has a variety of themed specialty gardens and focused plant collections, they include: * The Entry Garden — an introductory garden with displays of annuals and tender plants with the permanent collection of ornamental, edible and native plants. It uses the E. Stanley and Alice M. Wright Entry Garden and the Thomas Smith W. Robert Mill Entry Court to introduce visitors to the botanic garden beyond the Stoddard Education and Visitors Center at its terminus. * The Winter Garden — a

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...

garden enclosed on three sides by the Stoddard Education and Visitors Center, the Orangerie, and the Limonaia. It features plants especially known for their winter attributes, and the formal

Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavi ...

’s Pool centered in the courtyard has twin bronze sculptures of native Eastern Box Turtles as fountain jets. * The Orangerie — a 4,000 square foot (370 m²)

orangerie An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very large ...

greenhouse, a hybrid of an 18th-century Neoclassical orangerie and a modern conservatory. It is Tower Hill's primary climate controlled wintertime display facility, featuring hundreds of sub-tropical plants and blooming bulbs. * The Limonaia — a conservatory greenhouse displaying a portion of THBG's collection of non-hardy plants that need to winter in a sub-tropical environment, including potted

lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

trees. * The Cottage Garden — the first garden designed and planted at THBG in the 1980s. It emphasizes color combinations, with a variety of trees, shrubs, bulbs, herbaceous perennials, annuals, and ornamental grasses for shade & sun, and moist & dry conditions. Its smaller scale, similar to residential gardens, is a place of ideas for home gardeners and

garden designer A garden designer is someone who designs the plan and features of gardens, either as an amateur or professional. The compositional elements of garden design and landscape design are: terrain, water, planting, constructed elements and buildings, p ...

s. * The Lawn Garden — 2 terraces of grassy greensward bordered by over 350 species and varieties of

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

s and

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s, underplanted with: sweeps of perennials including peonies, day lilies, & iris; and diverse

ground cover Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows over an area of ground. Groundcover provides protection of the topsoil from erosion and drought. In an ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as t ...

s. * The Secret Garden — an enclosed oval garden on the third and lowest terrace of the Lawn Garden, with twin

pergola A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. The ...

s, a garden pool and fountain, a wide variety of ornamental

grasses Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and ...

annual plant An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seeds, within one growing season, and then dies. The length of growing seasons and period in which they take place vary according to geographical ...

s, and tender and low maintenance

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

s. * The Inner Park — a

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

garden and mixed hardwood trees woodland, with pathways and

Classical Revival style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

architectural elements, including the Peace Temple, a garden folly, the Pope Urn, and statuary. * Pliny's Allée — a landscape allée of

oak tree An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably '' ...

s, underplanted with shrubs of notable autumn beauty, and two busts of

Janus In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus ( ; la, Ianvs ) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janu ...

, the Roman deity of beginnings and endings. Pliny's Fountain, an antique stone wellhead that periodically erupts a jet of water is at the allée's terminus. * The Vegetable Garden — a seasonal

vegetable garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...

containing unusual and heirloom vegetables, herbs, and annual flowers. * The Systematic Garden — designed in an

Italian Renaissance garden The Italian Renaissance garden was a new style of garden which emerged in the late 15th century at villas in Rome and Florence, inspired by classical ideals of order and beauty, and intended for the pleasure of the view of the garden and the landsc ...

style, with plants arranged 'systematically' according to current

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

understandings of their evolutionary relationships. This garden displays

plant species Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms ''gut flora'' or ''skin flora''. Ety ...

in 26 distinct

plant families Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

as a visual encyclopedia of the Plant Kingdom. * The Wildlife Garden — with with of woodland trails. Both

and exotic species are incorporated into this

wildlife garden A wildlife garden (or wild garden) is an environment created by a gardener that serves as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater to native and local plants, birds, amphibians, rep ...

. The Bird House is a screened building for visitors to enjoy

bird watching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, ...

without the bother of mosquitoes and other flying insects. Cross-country skiers are welcome here in winter. * The Wildlife Refuge Pond — a pond with

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s that provides drinking water and habitat to wild birds, native

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

s, and indigenous species of fish. The

Rustic style Rustic architecture is a style of architecture in the United States, used in rural government and private structures and their landscape interior design. It was influenced by the American craftsman style. According to the National Park Service, � ...

Viewing Pavilion is a vantage point for wildlife viewing. * The Moss Steps — a carpet of moss that grew to cover the

Castalia Castalia ( grc, Κασταλία), in Greek mythology, was a naiad-nymph, a daughter of Achelous who inhabited the Castalian spring in Delphi. In older traditions, Castalian spring already existed by the time Apollo came to Delphi searching f ...

stone steps underneath, located in the Edward Mezitt Shade Garden. The

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

rocks are from farm fields in

Sandusky County, Ohio Sandusky County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is southeast of the Toledo Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,896. Its county seat is Fremont. The county was formed on Fe ...

. The area framing the steps has been planted with Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia), and native ferns and wildflowers. * The Court: A Garden Within Reach — a universally accessible garden space for all, with plantings chosen for their multi-sensory appeal. It has moveable planters, more accessible raised beds, and a vertical green wall. * The Field of Daffodils — a field of more than 25,000

daffodil ''Narcissus'' is a genus of predominantly spring flowering perennial plants of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. Various common names including daffodil,The word "daffodil" is also applied to related genera such as '' Sternbergia'', ''Is ...

bulbs. It comes into bloom in late April, with the bloom period 'usually' peaking between the 3rd week of April and the 1st week of May.

Notable Collections

* The Harrington Apple Orchard displays the Davenport Collection of

heirloom In popular usage, an heirloom is something that has been passed down for generations through family members. Examples are a Family Bible, antiques, weapons or jewellery. The term originated with the historical principle of an heirloom in ...

apples, with 238

apple tree An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

s representing 119 pre-20th century heritage apple varieties.

Cary Award

The Cary Award program promotes outstanding plants for

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

gardens. It is a collaborative effort of New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill−

, the

Massachusetts Horticultural Society The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, sometimes abbreviated to MassHort, is an American horticultural society based in Massachusetts. It describes itself as the oldest formally organized horticultural institution in the United States. In its m ...

, the New England Nursery Association, and the Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association. it highlights home landscape

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

s that have proven their performance in New England. Caryaward.com: List of Cary Award winning plants
/ref>

Features

Collections and gardens

Notable Collections

Cary Award

See also