Level IV

Since 1929, Bernheim as been connecting people with nature.  Bernheim encompasses over 14,000 acres in Bullitt and Nelson counties, Kentucky, about 25 miles south of Louisville.  Bernheim features a 600-acre arboretum featuring over 8,000 unique varieties of trees and 14,000-acre research forest, where you can hike one of our 35 miles of trails or learn about the exciting research that occurs daily within the natural areas.  Bernheim is Kentucky’s Official Arboretum and its woodlands, prairies, and wetlands make up the largest privately-owned natural area in Kentucky.

Bernheim has continued to grow and change throughout its 80+ year history.  The LEED Platinum certified Visitor Center opened in 2007.  Bernheim has also continued to add to its art collection, so visitors can experience arts in nature throughout their visits. Bernheim is excited to be a leader in ecological stewardship and to see the other ideas and research that are sure to evolve as we move toward the next 80 years.

Located in Northampton, Massachusetts, the Botanic Garden of Smith College is set on a 125-acre campus landscape. Smith College's first president had a vision for the entire campus to be a botanic garden and an arboretum having scientific as well as aesthetic value. The original campus plan was designed by the firm of Olmsted, Olmsted, and Elliot.

Since its founding in 1895, the Botanic Garden of Smith College has been functioning as an institution that fosters education about the science, beauty, and importance of the plant kingdom, serving as a living museum of plants native to New England and ecosystems around the world. Open to the publics, the garden encompasses an arboretum that is intermingled among historic and contemporary buildings, specialty gardens, a 12,000 square foot glass conservatory, and an exhibition gallery. Goals are collection and display, education, research, and conservation. Over 10,000 documented, labeled, and mapped plants are broadly representative of both native and non-native species, ranging from cultivars of landscape plants to wild-collected species with provenance that underpins our conservation efforts. The plant database is accessible online through BGCI and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh multisite. Tropical and temperate seed are made available via Index Seminum (seed exchange program) and germplasm is shared with researchers around the world.

The Polly Hill Arboretum (PHA), a 72-acre public garden located on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, contains the results of Polly Hills' fifty years of horticultural experimentation. Iin 1958, Polly began an arboretum by sowing a seed, eventually bringing 20 acres under cultivation while preserving 40 additional acres as native woodland. Established in 1998 as a not-for-profit institution the Arboretum was created to preserve Polly's botanical and horticultural legacy, to preserve the meadows and woodlands, and continue Polly's ideals of plant research, education, and conservation.

Currently PHA's living collection consists of 3,158 plants representing 1,580 taxa. Included in this collection are Polly's famous North Tisbury azaleas, a North American Plant Collections Consortium Stewartia Collection, camellias, clematis, crabapples, magnolias, and many more. The primary focus of the plant collection is on the floras of Martha's Vineyard, the Atlantic Coastal Plain, and eastern Asia.

The Arboretum offers an extensive curriculum-based youth education field study program. The Adult education program brings high-caliber horticultural speakers to Martha's Vineyard and offers a variety of classes and workshops. PHA collaborates with other national and international public gardens on research and seed collection of rare and endangered plants and trees worldwide. Closer to home the Arboretum collects, maps, and propagates native Vineyard plants and works with other Vineyard land conservation organizations. The Arboretum is considered a plant resource center for the community.

The University of Maryland College Park began as an agricultural college in 1856, and with the Morrill Act, became a Land Grant institution in 1862. In the 150 plus years since, the campus has expanded to 1250 acres, a spacious setting for the trees, shrubs, and flowers that now make up the UMD Arboretum and Botanical Garden.

The University of Maryland campus is an Arboretum and Botanical Garden that strives to be an instrument of horticultural distinction, landscape design and interpretation, and place-making reflecting the university’s education, research and service missions. The Arboretum and Botanical Garden incorporates the diverse heritage landscapes of the campus from its agricultural college beginnings to its current urban setting befitting a distinguished research university. Through exemplary practices of environmental stewardship, horticulture and urban forestry, the Arboretum and Botanical Garden enhances the campus’ aesthetic and promotes awareness of conservation and preservation of our natural environment for the enrichment of the university community, the citizens of Maryland and our visitors.

Established in 1958, the mission of the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is to welcome, inform and inspire all through outstanding displays, protected natural areas, horticultural research and education. The Arboretum and Horticultural Research Center comprises 1,200 acres of gardens, collections, natural areas and research nurseries.

The Arboretum has 49 gardens and model landscapes, and 44 plant collections, including major collections of crabapple, pine, maple, roses, ornamental grasses and the major groups of herbaceous perennials. The pine and grass collections are recognized by the American Public Gardens Association as part of the North American Plant Collections Consortium.

The Arboretum Education Department reaches approximately 95,000 people per year through scheduled education programs for youth, adults and master gardeners. An estimated 25 percent of our 450,000 annual visitors participate in walk-by learning through interpretive signs and exhibits throughout the grounds and buildings. The Extension Master Gardener program reaches approximately 200,000 Minnesotans per year. All messaging and programming is science/research based and developed to meet audiences with varying levels of prior knowledge, and all ages.

Through the rolling 350 acres of property in Charlotte, North Carolina you will discover an incredible and diverse collection of plants, gardens and research grounds that is the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratory and Arboretum. With over 9000 accessioned plants a few of the Arboretum highlights include one of the best collection of oak and conifer on the east coast, the biggest collection of magnolia in the country as well as extensive collection of holly, elm, crape myrtle, crabapple, maple, rhododendron and numerous display gardens. In addition to the collections and research areas several ponds, natural areas and woodland nestled throughout the Arboretum provide a home to a variety of wildlife.

The Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories and Arboretum is actively developed, curated and managed to support learning, discovery, research, and training and to serve as a resource to the employees and customers of The Bartlett Tree Expert Company. The Arboretum seeks to contribute to and showcase a wide range of plant material as well as set an example of a sustainable, enjoyable and thought provoking living museum. In addition, working alongside and partnering with the public horticulture community and green industry is a crucial component to the mission of the Arboretum.

Bayard Cutting Arboretum is a 691 acre New York state park situated along the Connetquot River on the south shore of Long Island. The former Westbrook estate of Mr. William Bayard Cutting, a hobby botanist and conifer enthusiast, holds a rich history of landscape design and botanical specimens dating back to the nineteenth century. Gifted to the Long Island State Park Commission in 1936 by the late Mrs. William Bayard Cutting and her daughter Olivia James, this vast land has served as an escape for all from the fast paced outside world.  Olivia James wrote that the arboretum “...shall serve to bring about a greater appreciation and understanding, on the part of both the general public and of those professionally concerned with landscape design of the value and importance of informal planting, and shall thus be an influence in preserving the amenities of our native landscape.”

The collections at Bayard Cutting Arboretum have been carefully planned throughout the years. In 1886, the architectural firm of Frederick Law Olmsted cleared out much of the heavily forested land of Westbrook estate and designed what is now Oak Park. The arboretum is most recognized by the rare and diverse conifer collections. Original conifers sourced by the Cutting family still exist today, some the largest in the region. Currently, the arboretum has over 5,000 specimens in their database. Collections at Bayard Cutting Arboretum include Oak Park, Westbrook Walled Garden, Great Lawn, Holly Walk, New and Old Pinetum, Pinetum Extension, Royce Rhododendron Garden, Breezy Island, Woodland Garden, Conifer Garden, American Conifer Society Garden, River Walk, and Community Supported Agriculture Farm.

Holden Forests and Gardens in Kirtland, Ohio was started in 1931 with a bequest from Albert Fairchild Holden. In 2011, The Holden Forests and Gardens celebrated 80 years as part of the the Northeastern Ohio community. For almost eight decades, Holden has served as a destination for visitors seeking to find their place in nature, a resource for professional and home landscapers and a partner in the education for the region.

Covering 3,600 acres, Holden Forests and Gardens is among the largest arboreta in the United States. Documenting more than 120,000 plants, Holden's horticultural focus is on a recognized collection of trees and shrubs, which are displayed in gardens accompanied by groundcovers and perennials, and in themed collections. They collect and display a diversity of plants and trees for evaluation and educational purposes, in order to convey sustainable plant choices recommended for their region. By sustainable, they mean plants that are adapted to their soils and climatic extremes, free from chronic diseases and significant pests, and non-invasive of natural areas. Plants include rhododendrons, magnolias, maples, conifers, nut trees, wildflowers, lilacs and viburnums. A visitor center, reference library and picnic area are on the grounds. Holden connects people with nature for inspiration and enjoyment, fosters learning and promotes conservation.

The Dawes Arboretum in Newark, Ohio was founded by Beman and Bertie Dawes in 1929 as a private, non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the love and knowledge of trees, history and the natural world. Towards this end, the arboretum strives to be recognized as a leader in plant conservation and historic preservation through a demonstrated commitment to collections, research and education. They acquire, display and evaluate plants suitable for the Ohio River Valley, preserve and tell the story of The Dawes Arboretum and its founding family, conserve and promote native habitats and ecosystems, and create enjoyable opportunities in education and recreation.

The Dawes Arboretum's primary collections consist of holly, oak, maple, dawn-redwood, witch-hazel, buckeye and horse-chestnuts, and conifers. The Dawes Arboretum currently has three North American Plant Collections Consortium (NAPCC) collections. The buckeye / horse-chestnuts and dawn-redwoods are individual NAPCC collections and the maple collection is part of a multi-site NAPCC collection. The collection contains more than 15,000 living plants of over 5000 unique names (taxa). Extensive records are kept giving specific locations, scientific and common names, origin and age.

The Dawes Arboretum owns over 1800 acres with the total collection area at about 250 acres. Other acreage consists of woodlands, meadows, wetlands and agriculture. The various gardens such as the Japanese Garden, Conifer Glen and Daweswood House Museum bring a different view depending on the season. Nearly 4.5 miles of paved roads wind throughout the various collections, gardens and natural areas. The Arboretum has nearly 15 miles of hiking trails providing access to all collections, garden areas and a variety of native habitat and ecosystems.

The Botanical Garden side of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden occupies the full 75-acre footprint of the Cincinnati Zoo. The CZBG takes pride in its collection of over 3000 accessions. Much of that collection, which consists of plants from shade trees to groundcovers, are species and selections being trialed for home garden and landscape use in Midwestern urban conditions. There are prominent seasonal displays, including a large and popular tulip display in the spring and, perhaps, the largest combined annuals trials/display planting in the country. The CZBG is also represented by the Center for the Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW), which is globally respected for its conservation work with endangered plant species, much of it through cryogenic preservation of seeds and other plant tissue. The CZBG is all well-known for its work with the community. The best example of that being its creation and support of a 2-acre mini-botanical garden on the campus of Rockdale Academy, a K-6 elementary school two blocks from the CZBG. Finally, the restored wetlands and other ecosystems at the CZBG’s Bowyer Farm in nearby Warren County are fine examples of local conservation.