Barnes Arboretum Guided Tour and Picnic
Saturday May 12, 2018 at 12:00 noon
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The DVWGS is planning a guided tour and picnic at the Barnes Arboretum on Saturday May 12, 2018.
The cost is $10.00 for non-members of the arboretum, with a minimum number of 15 participants. If you would like to join us for a docent-led guided tour starting at 12:00 noon, please plan to arrive at 11:45 AM. Please email webmaster@dvwgs.com, so that we can let them know how many of us plan to attend. Open to the public from May to September, the Barnes Arboretum is located at 300 N. Latches Lane, Merion, PA 19066. Parking is free. For more information, go to the Barnes Arboretum web site or call 215.278.7360 |
Bring your own picnic and enjoy lunch in the garden with other members after the tour.
About the Barnes Foundation Arboretum
In 1922, when Dr. Barnes and his wife, Laura Leggett Barnes, bought the Merion property, it already housed a collection of specimen trees that its previous owner, Captain Joseph Lapsley Wilson, had started assembling in the 1880s. The site became the home of the Barnes Foundation, and Wilson stayed on as the first director of its arboretum. While Dr. Barnes concentrated on the art collection, Laura Barnes devoted herself to the arboretum. Her legacy lives on in the beauty of the landscape and in the horticulture school that she founded in 1940.
The 12-acre arboretum is astonishingly diverse for its size, with more than 2,500 varieties of woody and herbaceous plants, many rare. The peony and lilac collections date from the early 1900s and are important genetic resources for conservation and study. An herbarium started in 1968 by John Fogg, a longtime instructor at the arboretum school and director after Mrs. Barnes, contains more than 10,000 specimens that supplement teaching and research.
Several of the rarer varieties, including many from Asia, were acquired after the 1876 Centennial Exposition that took place in Philadelphia. Under the directorship of Mrs. Barnes, the arboretum gained other rare trees and plants. The unusual appearance of the monkey-puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana), native to the Andes, has made it a visitor favorite. The arboretum's redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), typically found amid the coastal forests of Northern California, is a rare sight in these parts.
The arboretum contains good collections of Abies, Acer, Aesculus, Berberis, Cotoneaster, Cornus, crab apples, Euonymus, ornamental ferns, Ilex, lilac, Lonicera, Magnolia, peony, Picea, Pinus, Quercus, Rhododendron, Stewartia, Taxus, and Viburnum, as well as notable specimens of Ginkgo biloba, Cedrus libani, Calocedrus decurrens, Cunninghamia lanceolata, Sequoia sempervirens, and Metasequoia glyptostroboides. Other plants of interest include Araucaria araucana, Aucuba japonica, Davidia involucrata, Equisetum sp., Lagerstroemia indica, Magnolia grandiflora, Nandina domestica, and Poncirus trifoliata.
It also contains a formal rose and perennial garden, woodland, lawns, pond, stream, and a greenhouse (reconstructed in 2002) containing about 250 varieties of plants.
In 1922, when Dr. Barnes and his wife, Laura Leggett Barnes, bought the Merion property, it already housed a collection of specimen trees that its previous owner, Captain Joseph Lapsley Wilson, had started assembling in the 1880s. The site became the home of the Barnes Foundation, and Wilson stayed on as the first director of its arboretum. While Dr. Barnes concentrated on the art collection, Laura Barnes devoted herself to the arboretum. Her legacy lives on in the beauty of the landscape and in the horticulture school that she founded in 1940.
The 12-acre arboretum is astonishingly diverse for its size, with more than 2,500 varieties of woody and herbaceous plants, many rare. The peony and lilac collections date from the early 1900s and are important genetic resources for conservation and study. An herbarium started in 1968 by John Fogg, a longtime instructor at the arboretum school and director after Mrs. Barnes, contains more than 10,000 specimens that supplement teaching and research.
Several of the rarer varieties, including many from Asia, were acquired after the 1876 Centennial Exposition that took place in Philadelphia. Under the directorship of Mrs. Barnes, the arboretum gained other rare trees and plants. The unusual appearance of the monkey-puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana), native to the Andes, has made it a visitor favorite. The arboretum's redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), typically found amid the coastal forests of Northern California, is a rare sight in these parts.
The arboretum contains good collections of Abies, Acer, Aesculus, Berberis, Cotoneaster, Cornus, crab apples, Euonymus, ornamental ferns, Ilex, lilac, Lonicera, Magnolia, peony, Picea, Pinus, Quercus, Rhododendron, Stewartia, Taxus, and Viburnum, as well as notable specimens of Ginkgo biloba, Cedrus libani, Calocedrus decurrens, Cunninghamia lanceolata, Sequoia sempervirens, and Metasequoia glyptostroboides. Other plants of interest include Araucaria araucana, Aucuba japonica, Davidia involucrata, Equisetum sp., Lagerstroemia indica, Magnolia grandiflora, Nandina domestica, and Poncirus trifoliata.
It also contains a formal rose and perennial garden, woodland, lawns, pond, stream, and a greenhouse (reconstructed in 2002) containing about 250 varieties of plants.