Bartlett Arboretum & Gardens

I have written about many fun and exciting places in Stamford, and today I am going to talk about another one! What I am going to talk about today is Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens, which contains 93 acres of parkland, gardens, landscapes, and hiking trails that focus on the regional plants and ecology of Southwestern New England. In this post, I will be discussing its history and its many features, in hopes that it will encourage all of you reading to go visit it. 

The Arboretum was first started in 1913 by Dr. Francis A. Bartlett, a dendrologist and founder of the F.A. Bartlett Tree Expert Company, who had acquired 30 acres of North Stamford woodland to use as his residence, training school, and research laboratory for his company. Over the years, a large number of plant specimens from all over the world were assembled on the property. When the research laboratory moved to North Carolina in 1965, the Stamford property, which covered 60 acres at the time, was purchased by the State of Connecticut and designated the Connecticut State Arboretum. In 1993, the land and operation of the Arboretum were transferred to the University of Connecticut in Stamford, and in 2001, the land was transferred to the City of Stamford and operations were transferred to the Bartlett Arboretum Association, which is an independent non-profit organization. 

Today, the Arboretum has a wide variety of plant collections that are grown for research purposes, such as to determine hardiness, for representation of different species within a genus, or to test for disease and insect resistance. Some collections are grown for the purpose of showing differences in flowers or fruit, leaves, or size within the same family of plants. These collections that I am going to talk about right now were planted 50 to 100 years ago by Dr. Bartlett and subsequent professors and students from the University of Connecticut when it acquired the property. 

The first collection that they have is of Pollarded Trees. It is located next to the Greenhouse, and for those of you that don’t know, pollarding is a style of pruning that refers to an old English term that means “crew cut,” and it offers a unique and visual feature, keeping trees compact where space is limited. In Dr. Bartlett’s day, these trees were used for experimental purposes, as scientists would introduce insects and diseases, monitor their destructive effects, and attempt to remedy these problems with cutting-edge of the time, and at the end of the season, the diseased branches were removed by using the pollarding pruning methods. 

The next collection that they have is the Witches’ Broom Collection. This is a characteristic of some coniferous evergreens, which is an abnormal growth of dense, darker green foliage near the inner truncated branches that mound into a form similar to representations of witches’ brooms. This can be caused by a natural mutation or virus that causes the natural growth to mutate.

The next collection they have is the Cottage Garden. This was named for the popular British gardens in the 18th century, and used to sit behind a cottage that was built in 1934 until it was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and it now sits in front of the homestead building. The plants here enjoy both sun and shade, beginning in the spring with the hellebores and finishing the growing season with Japanese Toad Lilies and chrysanthemums. Its contents can evolve over the years to adapt to changing conditions.

The next collection they have is the Potter’s Field. This is located between Cemetery Trail and the soccer field at Scofield Magnet Middle School, and it is where Stamford’s indigent were buried for a century until 1970. Since the 1990s, a group of volunteers have been uncovering grave markers and studying the history and identification of those buried there. 

The next collection they have is the Native Plant Shade Garden. This garden has many plants growing in it from spring to summer. In March and April, before the leaves start appearing on the trees, spring ephemerals like Virginia bluebells, bloodroot, and trout lily appear in the garden, and after flowering and producing seeds, these plants will disappear until the next spring. In April and early May, red and great white trilliums emerge and bloom. Twinleaf, mayapple, wild blue phlox, golden groundsel, and Canadian anemone are in flower at this time. Fronds of maidenhair and ostrich ferns also emerge from the ground in May. In May and June, the early summer flowering plants that are noteworthy are golden Alexander and foam flowers. Flowering activity here slows down during the summer, as the only flowers you can see from June to July are Indian pink and scarlet beebalm and black cohosh. Some of the plants in the garden also have a variety of berries in them from July to September. 

The next collection they have is the Kate and Robert Bartlett Jr. Magnolia Collection. This serves as a way of the Bartlett family continuing their interest in the Arboretum and their contributions to the collections that were established more than 100 years ago. One of the early plantings was Southern Magnolia, which was planted on the side of the Homestead, had giant white flowers and evergreen leaves, but it suffered damage and was removed in 1979. Robert Bartlett Jr. has an interest in magnolias, however, and has provided the Arboretum with several new hybrids in recent years, and the collection has grown to more than 40 cultivars of Star Magnolias, Chinese Magnolias, and Saucer Magnolias. 

The next collection they have is the Perennial Border, which is one of three perennial gardens at the Arboretum. This one started in the 1970s as an iris display garden from the Iris Society in Stamford, is a total of 140 feet long, and approximately 14 feet wide. Today, it has more than 100 varieties of plants, attracts many pollinators and is a source of nourishment or host for their eggs, and is designated as a Monarch Waystation. 

The next collection they have is the Jane B. Heisinger Wildflower Garden. It is filled with more than 100 local species on about one quarter of an acre and represents the diversity of attractive native plants that can be used for the home landscape. It was initially established as a living memorial for Jane Bartlett Heisinger, and it emphasizes that native plants are important to the local ecosystem because they provide sustenance and habitat for native insects, bees, butterflies, birds, and animals. Some plants in the garden are Virginia Bluebells, Trout Lilies, Mayapples, Black Cohosh, and Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

The next collection they have is the Fruit and Vegetable Garden. This garden used to be the site of many lively parties, and was established in its current form in 2008 with decoratively arranged raised garden beds, pathways, ornaments, espaliered fruit trees, fruiting shrubs, and a variety of vegetables. The garden is also completely organic with directly sown seeds as well as sets planted in the spring. Natural amendments such as egg shells, banana peels, and seaweed, are used to encourage growth, and insects are deterred with companion plants such as garlic, onions, and marigolds.

The next collection they have is the Pinetum. This is a large grouping of needled evergreens, including pines, spruces, true cedars, false cypress, and hemlocks. Some of the more magnificent trees there include the Cedar of Lebanon, Japanese Umbrella Pines, and Weeping Hemlock. 

The next collection they have is the Herbarium. This is a collection of plant samples and associated data that has been preserved for long-term study. These samples include pressed and mounted plants and plant parts, seeds, dry and fluid-preserved flowers or fruits, pollen, sections of wood, and frozen plant DNA. The Herbarium here holds specimens from as far back as 1887, vascular plants and bryophytes from around the world, such as New York City, southwestern Connecticut, Florida, Puerto Rico, Arizona, and Amazonian Peru.

The next collection they have is the 9/11 Memorial “Survivor Tree” Archway. This is a Bradford gallery pear that was found alive amidst the rubble during the recovery efforts at the World Trade Center, and cuttings were taken from it, and 14 were planted on the Arboretum property, and the archway is made from metal and bamboo.

The next collection they have is the Word Garden. This was created with a generous donation from the Pitney Bowes Foundation, and it consists of rocks with words on them, and guests can use them to create poetry, share a message, or start a discussion.

The next collection they have is the Sundial Garden. As its name suggests, it has a sundial, and a variety of plants that have been chosen for attracting birds, butterflies, and bees. 

The next collection they have is the Frank Bartlett Heisinger Conifer Garden. There are 250 plants here that make up 150 different species of dwarf conifers.

The next collection they have is the Mehlquist Garden. This garden was established by Dr. Gustav Mehlquist, who is credited with developing hardy high quality rhododendrons and azaleas. The garden is also home to Highbush Blueberries, Japanese Andromeda, Enkianthus, and Mountain Laurel, the Connecticut state flower.

The next collection they have is the Alice Smith Fern Allee. This is a pathway that is bordered on each side by more than 60 varieties of ferns. Some of the varieties in the collection include the Tatting Fern, the Christmas Fern, and the Upside-down Fern

The next collection they have is the Linda Nykaza Albanese Herb Garden. This garden is home to aromatic, culinary, medicinal, and economically interesting herbs. The aromatic herbs are used in perfumes and essential oils, the culinary herbs include basil and French tarragon and other herbs that are used to flavor food, the medicinal herbs are used to treat indigestion, colds, and migraines. 

The next collection they have is the Nut Tree Collection. This collection was first started by Dr. Bartlett himself, who was enamored with nut trees, with several of his plantings still there to this day. Some of the nut trees on the property include pecans, walnuts, butternuts, heartnut, and horsechestnuts.

The next collection they have is the Laurel Collection. This collection consists of Mountain Laurel, the Connecticut state flower, which has as many as 150 different forms on the grounds dating back to 1971, Sheep Laurel, and Eastern Bog Laurel.

The last collection they have is the Sensory Garden. This is the newest garden at the arboretum, and it is devoted to plants that emphasize the five senses, sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch, and each raised bed in the garden has a different group of plants. The smell bed has scented plants like lavender, roses, scented geraniums, and lilies, the hearing bed has a fountain and grasses and bamboos that make noise when the wind blows, and the taste bed has sugar snap peas, beans, oregano, basil, and cherry tomatoes. 

There are also many trails for visitors to walk along. Most times when I have gone, I have just walked along the garden paths. I have also walked along the Cemetery Trail, as I remember seeing the Nature Explore Classroom while I have walked there, and I have probably walked along some other trails like the Brook Trail and the Pond Trail. 
There are also some buildings here, which are a Gatehouse, the main Homestead, a Greenhouse, and the Silver Educational Center, the latter of which has Visitor Reception, a Horticultural Library, a Master Gardener Plant Clinic, a Bee Observatory, and the Herbarium on the lower level.

There are also many parts of the arboretum that are dedicated to certain people. One that stands out is for actor Gene Wilder and his wife Karen, who were both residents of Stamford and also lived close to the arboretum.

Overall, this is certainly one of the most interesting places in Stamford. So, go ahead and go for a nice walk and go see some amazing plants!