Despite the rainy and chilly May 19 weather, about eighty people joined in the annual Spring Tree Tour at the Newton Cemetery & Arboretum, hosted by the Friends of Newton Cemetery. One of the oldest “garden cemeteries” in the U.S., established in 1855, the Cemetery was awarded Level 2 Arboretum status in 2014 by the ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program.
Julie Clements, Arboriculture Manager at Newton Cemetery & Arboretum, led the walking tree tour and discussed the organization’s approach to managing and caring for the arboretum. She addressed the challenges the arborists face, saying, for example, that the increasingly warm winters have made eastern Massachusetts inhospitable to sugar maple trees, leading the Cemetery to stop planting new sugar maples. This 100-acre arboretum is home to 2,500 trees – representing 200 different varieties in all. Along with a wide variety of trees and plants, the Cemetery hosts turtles, frogs, chipmunks, and many kinds of birds.
As part of its education mandate, the organization has created a self-guided tree tour, with plaques highlighting many notable trees and online maps and information about the highlighted trees. The plaques were funded by a grant from the Newton Conservators. More information about the trees at the arboretum can be found on its Nature and Wildlife page.
Newton Cemetery and Arboretum is a lovely greenspace with rolling hills, flowers, ponds, and trees, along with historic headstones and monuments. It is open to the public daily from 8AM to dusk. Jogging, dogs, and recreational use of bicycles and scooters are not permitted.
Friends of Newton Cemetery has scheduled tours on Historic Newton, summer horticulture, and a fall tree tour, respectively on June 20, August 18, and October 20. See the Cemetery’s event page.
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