Arboretum

Home gardener or professional horticulturist, doesn't matter: When you ask why they love digging in the dirt, they all get that look in their eyes. They smile a certain way, like they can't believe you'd ask such a dumb question. Then comes the grin, and major teeth. And they blurt out what Claire Sawyers does: "Because . . . because . . . it feels like you're playing!" Not even Sawyers, director of Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College, is playing right now. Over the winter, we can only plan, mentally, for our grandest garden yet: the next one. And for 2008, Sawyers offers much to think about in a new book called The Authentic Garden: Five Principles For Cultivating a Sense of Place (Timber Press, $34.95)

What it is: A nonprofit public park, arboretum and wildlife sanctuary in Devon. The celebration: There is a full schedule of events throughout the summer celebrating the arboretum's 30th anniversary. Coming event: Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. is the arboretum's Lilliputian birthday event for children and families: Giant watering cans artfully placed throughout the arboretum's 20 acres of winding hills and natural woodlands make children feel tiny by comparison, just like the people of Lilliput.

For Althea Whyte, a bluebird monitor at Tyler Arboretum, the most thrilling part of the job is watching the baby bluebirds leave the nest. "I've seen them in the process of fledging," Whyte said. "You see them with their heads" in the hole of the bluebird box "trying to decide whether they can do it or not," she said. "Last year, we fledged 83 bluebirds," said Suzanne Clauser, coordinator of the arboretum's bluebird program. Earlier this month, she reported that the arboretum had 10 active nests.

As he explores Morris Arboretum, usually following the Wissahickon Creek, it doesn't take Gordon Gibfried long to find an unusual tree or branch perfectly framed by nature. For more than 30 years, Gibfried has made the arboretum his palette, capturing the brilliant colors of autumn, the bare gray bones of the trees of winter, and the lush green of summer. Starting Saturday, the Belmont Hills artist's work will be exhibited in the Upper Gallery of the Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill.

Here let the young and the gay repair. And in this scene of light and beauty, gather from Earth, and Sky and Air, lessons of Life, and Love and Duty! From a 1845 hymn consecrating a new kind of cemetery To wander among the stunning architecture and rich flora of West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd is to virtually experience enlightenment. The paths curve gently past finely chiseled granite stones that seem to have been planted at the same time as cucumber magnolias, Kentucky coffee trees, and weeping hemlocks.

The quiet serenity of Jenkins Arboretum, with its shady paths winding through native woodlands, its pond for quiet reflection, its sun-dappled autumn leaves and vibrant spring colors, has inspired many artists. Nearly 50 artists have submitted work created after experiencing this 46-acre oasis for the arboretum's annual art show, "A Jewel in Your Backyard. " The show will be in the arboretum's greenhouse gallery through Saturday. When artist Julia Hogan moved to Valley Forge Mountain about five years ago, she discovered the nearby arboretum.

It's amazing how many butterflies and caterpillars have taken up residence at lush Tyler Arboretum. The place is literally crawling with them. Hundreds of the colorful creatures - in every stage of their metamorphosis - will be on display for "Amazing Butterflies," a new exhibition opening Saturday in Media. Swarms of giant monarch replicas greet patrons as they enter the exhibition. The 4-foot-tall models - mounted on hemlock trees over the entrance - sway when the wind blows.

In the legal battle over the future of the Barnes Foundation and its renowned art collection, this critical issue has been overlooked: the fate of the arboretum and its horticulture program. Dr. Albert Barnes originally considered creating his art gallery in Center City, but he changed his plans when land owned by Capt. Joseph Lapsley Wilson - the beginnings of an arboretum - became available in Merion. Barnes bought the property in 1922, preserved the trees that Wilson had begun planting in the 1880s, and eventually expanded the collection to more than 3,000 species and varieties of woody plants.

Wandering down a woody path that cuts through a treasure of plants on the edge of the Swarthmore College campus, Ben Yagoda described the late John Wister, the man who made the creation of an arboretum on the campus grounds his life's work. "He was prickly, thorny and funny," said Yagoda, who in researching a book leading up to the arboretum's 75th anniversary, got to know the late Wister, its first director, by reading old correspondence, including Wister's annual reports, and interviewing those who knew the man called "the dean of horticulturists.

The Tyler Arboretum in Delaware County, one of the oldest and largest arboretums in the northeastern United States, has played a significant role in both the human and natural history of our area for more than 300 years. During the 18th and 19th centuries, it evolved from a colonial land grant to a working farm to finally a Quaker country estate. In the 20th century, it became an arboretum. And this year, Tyler Arboretum was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The history of this land is intertwined with the story of eight generations of the Minshall/Painter/Tyler family.