Horticulture Center

Grass on the ground and plants on the roof are all starting to take root at the new Horticulture Center at Bloomfield Farm.  Here are a few pictures as an update to the progress in completing the Horticulture Center, taken by Morris Arboretum Director Paul Meyer. 

Looking at the garage bay, we can see a few of the green features, including the green roof that is beginning to grow as well as the above ground cisterns.  The cisterns will allow water to be collected from the roofs and reused for irrigation in dry times.

The front of the new Horticulture Center is complete with a bench on the patio.

A verdant view from the side of the Horticulture Center

Coach Dick Vermeil Sells out Wine Tasting at Morris Arboretum

On Thursday, May 27 from 6:30-8:30pm, Morris Arboretum held a special evening of wine tasting and hors d’oeuvres hosted by Dick Vermeil, legendary football coach. The event was sold out. Attendees enjoyed wines that were specially chosen from Vermeil Wines, Dick Vermeil’s Napa Valley family estate.

Marc Rayfield, Vice President CBS Broadcasting, Dick Vermeil and Paul Meyer, F. Otto Haas Director of the Morris Arboretum.

While virtually everyone knows Dick as a Super Bowl winning head coach, he is also a passionate winemaker who influential wine critic Robert Parker has called a “great success” and a winemaker to watch. Ironically, the vineyard Dick now owns at the northern end of the valley is the one where he was born, which fell out of the Vermeil family’s control nearly 50 years ago.

Coach Vermeil engaged audiences about stories about his family vineyard, which he interwove with tales about his days as football coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.

CBS KYW3 was also here last night to check out the event, watch the clip here:

Check out these great articles that review the evening:
"Dick Vermeil continues winning ways at Philadelphia wine event" in the Philadelphia Wine Examiner by Jeff Alexander

"Former Eagles coach brings his fine wines to Morris Arboretum" in Montgomery News by Joe Barron


Take a look at some images from last night:

Enjoying the wine tasting with Dick Vermeil and friends. 

Dick Vermeil with his wife, Carol, enjoying the evening.

Marc Rayfield and Dick Vermeil explain the different Vermeil Wines 

Dick Vermeil talks with Larry Kane, Emmy Award winning Philadelphian journalist.

Sneak Peek at Garden Railway

Volunteers and Staff are hard at work here at the Morris Arboretum in anticipation of the Grand Opening of this year's Garden Railway, featuring American Roadside Attractions. I was able to go and take a look at some of the trains as they are being set up on the track. This year's exhibit is going to be really interesting with American landmarks and a lot of fun for families - from toddlers to folks bringing their grandchildren.

The grand opening of Garden Railway is this weekend - Saturday, May 29th. Come join the fun this weekend and stop by the Morris Arboretum Café as it is transformed into an American diner for the weekend to celebrate this year’s theme. The exhibit will be open all summer until Labor Day.

Replicas of some of the country’s favorite tourist attractions are featured around a quarter mile of track. It’s like traveling across America without leaving home! Those who have spent weekends in Margate, New Jersey will surely recognize Lucy the Elephant. If you’ve traveled far and wide, you may recognize The Big Duck of Hampton Bay, NY, or Sapp Brothers Coffee Pot Water Tower of Council Bluffs, IA, or Wigwam Village of Cave City, KY, or the Teapot Dome gas station of Zillah, WA.

Enjoy some more pictures and come see the exhibit with your own eyes. 

Download a free Morris Arboretum wallpaper of the Garden Railway here!

Morris Arboretum on CBS3 this morning

Watch as Leslie Van Arsdall from CBS Eyewitness news interviews Morris Arboretum's Bob Gutowski and learns about Out on a Limb, the rose garden and Garden Railway, opening May 29.  Liza Hawley of the Morris Arboretum tells us more about Out on a Limb the new exhibit that lets you experience trees from 50 feet up.  Henry Strobel and Anissa Gardizy give rave reviews of Out on a Limb, rating the exhibit a 20 on a scale from 1-10!

More great reviews of Tree Adventure and Out on a Limb from kids visiting Morris Arboretum this morning.  They explain to us how they enjoyed the huge tree house as well as the recently repaired Patrick Daugherty sculpture, Summer Palace.

In Bloom on May 15th

On Saturday, May 15th, Lauren Spitz, a professional photographer and an intern here at Morris Arboretum, taught a class on photography here in the garden.   It was a beautiful day to take photos and there was plenty of "subjects" in bloom to take pictures of.  Lauren gave plenty of tips to help every level of photographer from beginner to seasoned veteran.  Judging from the pictures, it looked like everyone had a great time.  Keep on the lookout for more photo classes in the future by checking our class schedule online.

Here are a few of the images caught be a Morris Arboretum regular, Arnold Winkler.  Thanks for sharing your photos, Arnold!

One thing I love about the Morris Arboretum

One thing that I love about the Morris Arboretum is that there seems to always be something new to discover.  Whether it is a change in the seasons or new flowers in bloom or leaves falling, I always see or smell or hear something new.  This seems to be a common sentiment among long-standing members of Morris Arboretum.  Year after year they visit and continue to discover and experience something new - sometimes it comes in the way of a new exhibit to the Arboretum like Out on a Limb or Patrick Dougherty's Summer Palace sculpture - other times something more subtle like a new plant in the fernery or a newly sighted heron by the wetland.

Just today, I saw a couple of new things, right here at the Arboretum:

2010 Plant Sale and the new Horticulture Center

The Morris Arboretum Annual Plant Sale was last weekend and a big success on multiple accounts. We had a great turnout during the Member events on Thursday and Friday as well as the Public day on Saturday.  This year was the first year to host the Plant Sale at the brand new Horticulture Center and people really enjoyed being able to see firsthand this highly anticipated and beautiful facility.  The new garage bays worked wonderfully to provide a shaded area to browse our selections and the paved sections kept everyone out of the mud.  As you can see in the picture below, the new buildings' architectural style seamlessly blend with the design of existing buildings on the site and the updated exterior finishes provide a more modern twist.

Personally, I was able to pick up a wonderful Columnar Basil plant that I am looking forward to using for some fresh summer dishes as well as a beautiful Rhododendron from the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society. A big thanks to all the Morris Arboretum Volunteers who worked with the staff in making this year's Plant Sale an enjoyable and successful experience for everyone!


Thanks to Arnold Winkler for this picture from Plant Sale:

Tree Planting with Judge Rendell

In case you missed tree planting with Judge Rendell for Arbor Day over the weekend, we have a short clip showing some of the highlights of the presentation. Thanks to Susan Crane and Brian Rudnick for putting this video together.

Judge Rendell and her husband, Governor Rendell are both graduates of the University of Pennsylvania.  Judge Rendell talked about the importance of trees and our need for them - it was great having her at the Arboretum!

Watch this short clip:



Here is a photo from the event: