Celebrate Native Plants

Garden in the Woods is open daily, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., through October 15. The Garden Shop is open on the same schedule. We welcome you to shop in person, or you may pre-order plants ahead for pick-up. See our Buy Native Plants page for details and plant lists. For your convenience, we have a new direct line for plant-shopping questions: 508-271-7920.

Please note: Due to the ongoing construction of new bridges and boardwalks, Hop Brook Trail will remain closed until summer.

Photo: Curtis Woodland Garden, Garden in the Woods, Dan Jaffe Wilder © Native Plant Trust

Native Plant Trust’s first visiting artist is Christine Southworth, a multimedia composer whose work has focused on lightning, honeybees, coral reefs, spiders, snowflakes, and now, mushrooms! Her new work incorporates photographs and videos of mushrooms growing at and near Garden in the Woods. On Saturday, June 3, at 8 p.m., Southworth will make music with live mushrooms that she has grown by “listening to" slight electrical variations in the colonies via electrodes placed on different parts of the fruiting growth and converted to sound. The performance, which incorporates her mushroom images and videos, will be followed by a discussion with the artist. Register for Mushroom Modulations.

Photo: Detail, 156 Mushrooms, courtesy of the artist

Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Exploring the Social History of the Outdoors, our virtual spring symposium, focuses on aspects of the social history of natural spaces, from nature appreciation and inspiration to notions of territory, access, and participation. Among our speakers, Mardi Fuller will address "Communities of Color & Access to Nature."  In "When Life Gives You Lemons," Dr. Xan Chacko will discuss the material traces that reveal the means by which credit for plant introductions--such as the Meyer lemon--was received, given, and exchanged. On Wednesday, June 21, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Register here.

Photo: Symposium speaker Dr. Xan Chacko, courtesy Dr. Xan Chacko

Executive Director Debbi Edelstein has received an honorary Gold Medal from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in recognition of her contribution to excellence in horticulture for the public good. “Under Debbi’s leadership over the past 14 years Native Plant Trust has been transformed into a conservation powerhouse,” says James Hearsum, President and Executive Director of Massachusetts Horticultural Society, who presented the award. “The organization has prioritized evidence-based interventions and has created and enhanced public data tools to enable professionals and the public alike to understand and intervene in support of native plant conservation. Debbi has cultivated and grown a vastly expanded audience for educational and public participation for native plants both in the wild and in gardens.”

Photo: Massachusetts Horticultural Society Gold Medal 

Executive Director Debbi Edelstein will be retiring in September of this year after 14 years of distinguished leadership. This, like most retirements, evokes a range of reactions, from excitement for Debbi that she will finally have time to take some long-planned journeys, to appreciation for all she has done for the organization, to regret at losing a multi-talented and determined colleague. We are eager to find a new executive director who can build on the present momentum and deliver the impact described in the organization's vision document developed under Debbi's leadership.  
—Bill Huyett, Chair, Board of Trustees

To read Bill's full announcement and a farewell note from Debbi, please click here.

Photo: Executive Director Debbi Edelstein, © Native Plant Trust

Native Plant Trust is committed to a culture of inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) and to being a welcoming and safe place for all who engage with us. We are proud that Native Plant Trust is among the first 21 organizations nationwide selected for a year-long pilot project with the new IDEA Center for Public Gardens. Each participating organization is developing and implementing a project to expand IDEA. Our project is developing a two-year plan to embed IDEA principles and actions into our organization’s culture and work, with defined milestones. Read more on the About Us page.

Photo: Downy serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea), © Uli Lorimer