The Connecticut College Arboretum is a 300 ha (750 acres) arboretum and

botanical 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 ...

s, founded in 1931, and located on the campus of

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college w ...

and in the towns of

New London New London may refer to: Places United States *New London, Alabama *New London, Connecticut *New London, Indiana *New London, Iowa *New London, Maryland *New London, Minnesota *New London, Missouri *New London, New Hampshire, a New England town ** ...

and

Waterford, Connecticut Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The population was 19,571 at the 2020 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place (CDP) and had a population of 3,07 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Collections

Arboretum collections are: the Native Plant Collection, the Caroline Black Garden, the Connecticut College Campus, and the Greenhouse. The underlying bedrock of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

and

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

was scoured by glaciers about 26,000 years ago. The resulting

glacial till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

has produced a brown

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt Dirt is an unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include: * Debri ...

of stony fine sandy loam texture. The dominant soil association on well-drained hills is Charlton-Chatfield complex. Hollis series occurs where the soil is less than 50 cm thick. A localized silt deposit in the southern area is mapped as Narragansett series. Poorly drained soils include Ridgebury, Leicester and peaty Timakwa series.http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/gmap/ SoilWeb: An Online Soil Survey Browser California Soil Resource Lab The Native Plant Collection of 8 ha (20 acres) was established in 1931, and displays trees and shrubs native to eastern North America and hardy in New London. It contains 288 taxa, including trees, shrubs, and woody vines indigenous to the forested region of Eastern North America, such as shadbush,

dogwood ''Cornus'' is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are deciduous trees or shru ...

, azaleas, mountain laurel, giant rhododendron,

sourwood ''Oxydendrum arboreum'', the sourwood or sorrel tree, is the sole species in the genus ''Oxydendrum'', in the family Ericaceae. It is native to eastern North America, from southern Pennsylvania south to northwest Florida and west to southern I ...

, sweet pepperbush, and

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

s and conifers. Of particular interest are: * The Lincoln and Lillian Dauby Gries Conifer Collection (est. 1988), featuring 1.2 ha (3 acres) of conifers: firs, spruces, hemlocks, junipers,

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

s, etc., and a variety of native shrubs. * The Nancy Moss Fine Native Azalea Garden (est. 1978), featuring 15 species and natural hybrid Azaleas (''Rhododendron'' spp.). * The Josephine Hooker Shain Mountain Laurel Garden (est. 1985), featuring

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

s of mountain laurel (''Kalmia latifolia''), many of which are the work of Dr. Richard Jaynes. * The Edgerton and Stengel Wildflower Gardens (est. 1956), featuring 0.8 ha (2 acres) of

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...

s and wildflowers such as

trillium ''Trillium'' (trillium, wakerobin, toadshade, tri flower, birthroot, birthwort, and sometimes "wood lily") is a genus of about fifty flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae. ''Trillium'' species are native to temperate regions of No ...

(''Trillium'' spp.), cardinal flower (''

Lobelia cardinalis ''Lobelia cardinalis'', the cardinal flower ( syn. ''L. fulgens''), is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family Campanulaceae native to the Americas, from southeastern Canada south through the eastern and southwestern United States ...

''), and

Turtlehead ''Chelone'' is a genus of four species of perennial herbaceous plants native to eastern North America. They all have similarly shaped flowers (which led to the name turtlehead due to their resemblance to the head of a turtle), which vary in c ...

('' Chelone'' spp.). The Caroline Black Garden contains a mature collection of ornamental trees, shrubs, and grasses from across the world, including 187 different woody taxa such as azaleas, Crimson Queen

Japanese maple ''Acer palmatum'', commonly known as Japanese maple, palmate maple, or smooth Japanese maple (Japanese: ''irohamomiji'', , or ''momiji'', (栴), is a species of woody plant native to Japan, Korea, China, eastern Mongolia, and southeast Russi ...

(''Oxydendrum arboreum''), Japanese stewartia, fragrant viburnum, weeping cherry, and many other specimens. The Connecticut College Campus currently has 223 taxa of trees and numerous shrubs, including the

Franklin tree Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral div ...

, Japanese

Pagoda Tree ''Styphnolobium japonicum'', the Japanese pagoda tree (also known as the Chinese scholar tree and pagoda tree; syn. ''Sophora japonica'') is a species of tree in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. It was formerly included with ...

, seven-son flower, and Chinese witch-hazel. The 280 m² (3,000 square foot) Greenhouse includes a tropical house, a

cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...

collection, and an experimentation area. The College Arboretum is also host to the biannual Arbo-Fest. Local and student bands can be found performing next to the lilly pond for the college students, enjoying the day in true liberal arts college fashion. Arbo-Fest is held once in the

fall Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southe ...

and once in the

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season) Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...

. The event is beloved by the college community for celebrating the beauty of the seasons with contemporary music.

Directors of the Connecticut College Arboretum

* George S. Avery (1931-1944) * Richard H. Goodwin (1944-1965, 1968-1969) * William Niering (1965-1968, 1969-1988) * Glenn Dreyer (1988-June 2018) *Maggie Redfern (Interim Director, June 2018 to present)

Photo gallery

Image:ConnCollArb1.JPG, Among the green pathes of the arboretum Image:ArbLillyPond.JPG, The lilly pond surrounded by grass Image:ArbGreenCorner.JPG, Another green corner of the arboretum Image:ArbEntranceWay.JPG, the entrance to the arboretum

References

External links

Connecticut College - Arboretum
{{Coord, 41.38, -72.11, display=title Botanical gardens in Connecticut Tourist attractions in New London, Connecticut Arboreta in Connecticut Connecticut College New London, Connecticut Waterford, Connecticut Protected areas of New London County, Connecticut 1931 establishments in Connecticut

Collections

Directors of the Connecticut College Arboretum

Photo gallery

See also

References

External links