October 1, 2025
Saturday, October 18 - 1:00 PM
In person at the:
Interfaith Food Pantry
Central Park of Morris County
2 Executive Drive, Morris Plains, NJ 07950
For more information and to register, click on Paul's photo.
Wednesday, November 5 - 7:00 PM
VIRTUAL VIA ZOOM
What supports hundreds of species, is many degrees cooler than its surroundings, soaks up stormwater, is co-created by children and their elders in spaces no bigger than a tennis court, and becomes maintenance free within a few years? A natural, native "mini-forest" planted using the Miyawaki Method, of course. Hannah will discuss what a mini-forest is, what it can do for your neighborhood, what goes into planting one, and why people all over the world are organizing their communities to plant mini-forests in the spaces around where they live and work.
Hannah Lewis is the author of Mini-Forest Revolution: Using the Miyawaki Method to Rapidly Rewild the World (Chelsea Green 2022), which was translated into French, German, and Italian, and is the 2023 winner of a Nautilus Book Award. Hannah has an MS in Sustainable Agriculture and Sociology from Iowa State University and a BA in Environmental Studies from Middlebury College. She lives in Minneapolis, where she works for the non-profit Renewing the Countryside to build sustainable local food systems and plant mini-forests.
If you are registered to attend the 2025 Tree Symposium on Saturday, November 8, you can register for Hannah's program for free. If you are not registered for the Tree Symposium, the program fee is $10.00.
For more information and to register, click on Hannah's book cover.
Saturday, November 8 - 9:00 AM
In person at The Frelinghuysen Arboretum
Many thanks to Bartlett Tree Experts for generously sponsoring this Symposium!
Beginning at 9:00 AM with registration, coffee, welcome and the opportunity to purchase plants from Coldwater Pond Nursery and Steven Kristoph Nursery.
Last week we focused on Kevin Chase and his talk entitled Current and Future Threats to Urban Trees and Shrubs. This week we're focusing on:
NJ Champions and Special Trees at The Frelinghuysen Arboretum, Bruce Crawford
The Frelinghuysen Arboretum is home to a number of unique and specimen quality trees. In fact, some of these trees are not only the largest in the state, but are difficult to find anywhere else! Join Bruce for this fun presentation as he discusses the history of these trees along with some thoughts on how many could possibly benefit and enhance your garden! Bruce will also lead a brief tour around the grounds so that everyone can become personally ‘acquainted’ with a few of these specimens.
Bruce has a degree in Biology from Bucknell University and studied Landscape Architecture and Horticulture at Cook College, Rutgers University. For nearly 25 years he had his own design/build gardening business that specialized in plantings for year-round interest. From 1987 to 2020, Bruce was an instructor in the Landscape Architecture program at Rutgers University. From 2005 to 2020, he was the Director of Rutgers Gardens, the botanical garden for Rutgers University. In 2021, Bruce joined the Morris County Park Commission as Manager of Horticulture for The Frelinghuysen Arboretum and two other horticultural sites.
For information on all the speakers, their lectures and to register, please click on the apple tree icon, above.
MORRIS COUNTY PARK COMMISSION PROGRAM
Scarecrows in the Garden at The Frelinghuysen Arboretum
353 Hanover Avenue, Morristown, NJ 07960
October 1 to October 31 - 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Throughout the month of October, visitors to The Frelinghuysen Arboretum can stroll through the gardens and see dozens of ghoulish, historic and colorful scarecrows for free.
For more information, click on the flyer.
Explore the Wonders of the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge
Wednesday, October 15 - 11:30 AM
Join the Home Garden Club of Morristown for an unforgettable free afternoon at the Helen Fenske Visitor Center, 32 Pleasant Plains Road, Basking Ridge, NJ.
For more information and to register, click on the photo of the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge.
HAPPY OCTOBER FIRST!
Time to say goodbye to the long days of summer and make the adjustment to the shorter days of fall. Clear sunny days and crisp clear nights lead to gorgeous leaf colors; we decorate with pumpkins in various hues and fragrant chrysanthemums in a variety of bright shades, as seen in the Longwood Gardens arrangements below. We begin to put our gardens to bed for the winter and start looking ahead to Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The winter months are spent making plans for next year's garden, pouring through seed catalogs and dreaming of the first green shoots to break ground, crocuses, daffodils, etc. But before that, we'll have snowdrops, hellebores and witch hazel to look forward to. The garden may be resting, but we are making plans!
Picture credits: Margery Ennist.
Click a picture to open the Photo Gallery page on our website.
FRIENDS VIDEOS AT THE ARBORETUM
Click here for a brief video by Lisa Bencivengo featuring Bruce Crawford, Manager of Horticulture Division of Cultural and Environmental Resources at the Morris County Park Commission in which he discusses the All American Garden at The Frelinghuysen Arboretum. Be sure to subscribe to our channel.
You can view all our videos in our YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe.
Several of our previously recorded events are available to watch on-line.
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