Accredited Arboretum News

From seed to forest giant, adopt a tree to conserve the rare, endemic, and vulnerable species in the tropical rainforest of Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula.

Forests are critical for a sustainable future. By planting the right tree in the right place, we can counteract climate change, provide habitat for wildlife, and protect global biodiversity. 

Costa Rica’s newest arboretum (website here) is a combination of innovative conservation technology and cutting-edge botanical research. The Osa Arboretum protects more than 300 native, rare, endemic and threatened tree species in the Osa Peninsula, a Costa Rican biodiversity hotspot. It aims to be one of the largest arboretums in Central America, with a trail network that spans more than 625 acres across old growth, secondary, mangrove and coastal forests.

ELEUTHERA, BAHAMAS — The Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve (LLNPP), an historic national park managed by the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) on the island of Eleuthera, will celebrate its 10-year anniversary next week Wednesday, March 24.

By Louis Sahagún

Officials at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden are in an uproar over a plan to manage storm water and boost climate resiliency by cutting down “specimen trees” — some 70 years old and more than 100 feet tall — to make room for groundwater recharge ponds and a pump station.

We would like to share with you the publication of the new Quercus

Cape Town’s natural beauty is renowned worldwide. From Table Mountain to Boulders Beach, there are so many incredible attractions that leave visitors enthralled. Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden is the latest to receive international acclaim for its marvellous views.

Once upon a time, in early-19^th-century America, people didn’t frequent parks; they recreated at cemeteries. Thanks to the so-called rural cemetery movement, expansive “groves of the dead” were filled with curated collections of flowering bushes and magnificent trees. Sprawling across hundreds of acres just outside cities, they were designed as naturalistic oases to simultaneously help strolling urbanites commune with dearly departeds and connect with their lost country roots. 

Local experts are working on herbal remedies to treat COVID-19, Hu Yonghong, chairman of the International Association of Botanic Gardens’ Asian branch, told a meeting in Shanghai.

Experts from Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden are investigating the effectiveness of peony and Chinese skullcap in reducing inflammation in the lungs caused by COVID-19, Hu said at a talk on “The Power of Plants” at the garden.

Will black cottonwood poplars, balsam poplars or their hybrids grow and thrive this far south?

That’s a question Lockerly Arboretum hopes to help North Dakota State University answer in the coming months and years through a research project that recently put its roots in the ground. Lockerly is one of 18 arboretums and universities across the country participating in the project that will determine where these trees can be grown and later broken down for uses like biofuel. The effort is being funded by the National Science Foundation’s plant genome research program.