Group Tours Group Tours Image Group Visits The Morris welcomes organized groups for visits — please review the types of tours we offer and our FAQ page at the bottom of this page before emailing tours@morrisarboretum.org or calling 215-247-5777 x157 to arrange a date. For opportunities available for student groups, field trips, and scout tours, please visit our Education page . Tours for parties of 10 or more can be arranged with a three week advance notice. Please fill out our Group Tour Request Form below   and a staff member will contact you to arrange a date. Adult tour groups may select from the following tours: Image Art in the Garden Tour Duration: 60 minutes The Morris is home to an outdoor collection of classic and contemporary sculptures. Explore the Garden’s works of art, both intimate and grand, seamlessly integrated into the designed landscape. The Madeline K. Butcher Sculpture Garden features changing exhibits of emerging artists. The length of time and areas covered can be adjusted for each group.   Learn More Image Bloomfield Farm and Historic Springfield Mills Tour Duration: 60 minutes Springfield Mills and the Miller’s Cottage date back to 1760 and are the oldest architectural features at the Morris Arboretum & Gardens. Springfield Mills contains the most complete inventory of original mill works and related machinery of any mill in the area. The content of the mill provides a unique opportunity to interpret 19th and early 20th-century agriculture and milling. Learn More Image Garden Highlights Tour Duration: 60 minutes The Morris Arboretum & Gardens is a living museum featuring plants, sculptures, and ideas collected from around the world. Visit some of the Arboretum’s most beloved attractions like the Fernery, the Rose Garden, and the Log Cabin, which visionaries John and Lydia Morris developed more than 100 years ago. Learn More Image Japanese Elements Tour Duration: 60 or 90 minute options available A Japanese garden speaks to all the senses, …

Lecture Series Lecture Series Image In Focus: Bringing Nature Home Series Moving past the WHY, this series will explore HOW you can transform your garden, yard, or outdoor space into a thriving ecosystem that nurtures and supports a varied range of plants, animals, and insects. Whether you're a land-care professional, an avid home gardener, or just getting started, join us at the Morris to discover simple, practical ways to make your home landscape more assorted—helping to restore balance, promote sustainability, and connect with nature right outside your door. From creating habitat for pollinators and amphibians to choosing native plants and adopting land-care techniques that support local wildlife, this series will guide you through actionable steps to attract beneficial species, improve soil health, conserve water, and reduce the need for chemical inputs. By the end, you'll have the tools to cultivate a vibrant, resilient landscape that not only enhances your home's beauty but also contributes to the broader health of the environment.   Image Photo: Rob Cardillo How Can I Help? Saving Nature with Your Yard DOUG TALLAMY , Professor of Entomology at the University of Delaware; Author, Bringing Nature Home (2007), The Living Landscape (2014), Nature’s Best Hope (2020), and The Nature of Oaks (2021). Tuesday, March 11 •  2 – 3:30 pm Join author Doug Tallamy at Temple Ambler Arboretum for a deep discussion about concrete ways each of us can make a positive environmental impact. Nearly every day Doug receives emails from people who have read his books and heard his talks and yet still have questions about ecological land care. These are good, thoughtful questions about ecology and evolution, invasive species, insect declines, native and non-native plants, conservation and restoration, residential and city landscapes, oak biology, supporting wildlife at home, and more. Join us as Doug addresses as many of these queries as he can. His answers will further motivate and …

Historic Structures Historic Structures Image The Log Cabin Image Visitors can step into the shoes of our founder, Lydia Morris, and take a trip back in time in the Log Cabin. From entertaining friends to enjoying quiet time on the porch watching woodlands along the stream, the Log Cabin was used as Lydia’s private retreat. John Morris designed and ordered the construction of the cabin in 1908. Similar in style to the nostalgic vacation cabins of the Adirondacks, complete with a river-stone cobble chimney. The building was cool in the summer, and a fireplace provided warmth for the cold winter. The Log Cabin was later restored in 1995 and remains an idyllic spot to enjoy spring bulbs and other short-lived native plants particularly.  The Springhouse Image Photo: Freddy Clark See one of the few remaining Springhouses in Philadelphia and all its hidden treasures! This springhouse pre-dates the Morris estate and can be traced back to when the property was first used as a dairy farm. In its home, alongside the spring-fed creek, the springhouse was used to store dairy products and other chilled perishables. However, the larger adjacent building remains a mystery. Its structural accents, like a chimney and fireplace, are speculated to have also been used for storage, dairy product preparations, or possibly even a smokehouse.  In 2004 this historical structure underwent a complex restoration. The stone walls were rebuilt, including a 38-foot wall with seating, granite steps, brick paving, new wooden beams to suggest a roof, and enhancements to the surrounding landscape.  The Springhouse complex offers a tranquil resting spot with an open view of the trees above. It lies close to the Azalea Meadow while also providing visitors with an opportunity to learn about an earlier era.  The Pump House Image At the time of its construction in 1908, the Pump House was an integral feature of the estate. Its wheel powered a three-cylinder pump which pushed water uphill to a cistern in …

What's in Bloom: August Welcome to the Morris Arboretum’s first  What’s in Bloom  blog! As this year’s John J. Willaman & Martha Haas Valentine Curatorial Intern, I spend a lot of time in the gardens checking on and appreciating the many plants in our living collection throughout the seasons. Welcome to the Morris Arboretum’s first  What’s in Bloom  blog! As this year’s John J. Willaman & Martha Haas Valentine Curatorial Intern, I spend a lot of time in the gardens checking on and appreciating the many plants in our living collection throughout the seasons. We want to share some of these with all of you, so we’ve curated a monthly blog that highlights current flowering plants and seasonal interest so you can know what to expect and what to look for during your next visit to the Arboretum. We hope this series complements the stunning, expansive views of the Arboretum and encourages you to find the beauty that comes from taking a closer look. Image Surprise lily ( Lycoris squamigera ) You’ll find this lovely late summer bloom dotted throughout the Arboretum, providing some welcome color in the gardens. Native to southern Japan, surprise lilies produce foliage in late spring that dies back in early summer before suddenly sending out a single flowering stalk in August—hence the surprise! You will see lots of these lilies along the paved path towards  Out on a Limb , where clusters of pink under the shade of great trees lead you into the beauty of the Arboretum in late summer.  Image Hollow Joe-Pye weed ( Eutrochium fistulosum ) It’s pollinator season here at the Arboretum, and our butterflies, moths, and bees are swarming around these tall, colorful native plants throughout our gardens. There’s an established cluster of Joe-Pye weed at the Swan Pond, whose seven-foot-tall stalks are topped with clouds of pink flowers. I’d recommend taking a moment to observe all of the beautiful pollinators that flock to these flowers, such as monarch and eastern tiger swallowtail …

Birds as Artistic Muse Longtime members and frequent birders Ken Januski and Jerene Schroeder say the Morris is inspiration for art. Image Since 1998, Ken Januski and Jerene Schroeder have been members and frequent birders at the Morris. Their birding journey has strong roots here, offering them  some of their first major sightings as well as inspiration for Ken’s nature-based artwork. Now, twenty-six years later, Ken is ranked as Morris’s top birder on eBird , having seen 160 species in the Gardens so far. But Ken and Jerene aren’t in it for the numbers. The married couple realized the potential of birding at the Morris when, during a visit to the now defunct plant sale, they heard the call of yellow-throated vireos in the trees. They soon started birding at the Morris twice a week, and years later they even volunteered to monitor the bluebird boxes at Bloomfield Farm. One reason the couple enjoys birding at the Morris is the variety and vastness of the Natural Areas . Ken often brings his spotting scope, which needs a lot of space, and he found he could comfortably set up in the Wetland . The scope not only offers a more magnified view than binoculars, but it also enables an artist to watch birds with two free hands to draw. “A lot of my education about birds occurred from drawing them at the Morris,” says Ken. “Most people don’t work that way—they work from photographs, but you miss so much in photographs. Plus, there’s not the thrill.” Image American Goldfinch Eating Thistle, Multi-block Woodcut, 2014. By Ken Januski. Image Green Heron with Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Reduction Linocut, 2013. By Ken Januski.                     Ken started his art career as an abstract painter, receiving an MA from Berkeley and an MFA from Cornell in Studio Art. He got disenchanted with the contemporary art world in the early 1990s, when too much verbiage began accompanying artwork. He began looking toward nature, and when him and Jerene joined as Morris members, the world of birds …

Snowflakes vs. Snowdrops: Pendulous Beauties of Early Spring Two similar plant species caught my attention at the Morris this week because of their attractive and early season blooms: Galanthus nivalis (snowdrop) and Leucojum vernum (spring snowflake). ). Often called “harbingers of spring,” both are bulb plants and have nodding flowers, sometimes spotted peeking through snow (hence the common names). Dr. Cynthia Skema is a Botanical Scientist at the Morris Arboretum.  Two similar plant species caught my attention at the Morris this week because of their attractive and early season blooms: Galanthus nivalis (snowdrop) and Leucojum vernum (spring snowflake). Often called “harbingers of spring,” both are bulb plants and have nodding flowers, sometimes spotted peeking through snow (hence the common names). Their mostly white flowers explain their generic names: Galanthus means “milk flower” and Leucojum “white violet,” both from (ancient) Greek. Their physical similarities are no mere coincidence, but instead the products of evolution as the two are related. Leucojum and Galanthus are sister genera in the tribe Galantheae, along with a third genus Acis (Larsen et al., 2010) and they all belong in the plant family Amaryllidaceae, also home to commonly cultivated amaryllis and daffodils. Image Galanthus nivalis flowering at the Morris Arboretum. Image Leucojum vernum flowering at the Morris Arboretum.                           Let’s consider the form of the three genera in tribe Galantheae. The easiest way to tell Galanthus apart from the other two genera is by the three large outer and three small inner tepals (petal-like structures) seen in its flowers, while Leucojum and Acis both have six equal-sized tepals (also three outer and three inner by position). Both Leucojum and Galanthus have markings on their six tepals, while Acis has none. One last characteristic is that Leucojum typically has a hollow scape, while the scape is solid in Galanthus and Acis . If you’re a …

Ways to Give Ways to Give Image Image Membership Become a member and receive unlimited general admission and invitations to special programs. Membership office members@morrisarboretum.org 215.247.5777 x205 Join Today! More Ways to Give Image Annual Fund Ensure the Morris has the resources it needs to engage visitors with spectacular landscapes and enriching programs.  Keith Lyons kwlyons@upenn.edu 215.247.5777 x161 Learn More Image Memorials & Tributes Honor a loved one with a gift to the Morris in their name.  Keith Lyons kwlyons@upenn.edu 215.247.5777 x161 Learn More Image The Collectors Circle The Collectors Circle represents the highest levels of annual giving and membership.  Keith Lyons kwlyons@upenn.edu 215.247.5777 x161 Learn More Image Corporate Partnerships There are many ways your business can benefit from a partnership with the Morris.  Leslie Crane  lcrane@upenn.edu  215.247.5777 x152  Learn More Image Moonlight & Roses Join us for cocktails and dinner in the garden at our premier annual fundraising gala, Moonlight & Roses, on the first Friday in June.  Kristen Casalenuovo  kcasal@upenn.edu  215.247.5777 x418  Learn More Image Planned Giving Make a lasting impact by including the Morris in your estate planning.  Mira Zergani  mzergani@upenn.edu  215.247.5777 x102  Learn More Image Special Projects Learn more about supporting a variety of projects and programs.  Alison Thornton  alisonth@upenn.edu  215.247.5777 x105  Learn More Image Other Ways to Give For more information on matching gifts, pledges, stock gifts, or gifts in kind please contact:  Oanh Whalen  owhalen@upenn.edu  215.247.5777 x131  Learn More … Ways to …

The Pennsylvania Bee Monitoring Program at the Morris Arboretum Have you noticed a blue vane trap hanging around the Morris Arboretum? It's part of the Pennsylvania Bee Monitoring Program, which studies regional bee variance across the state. Image A pinned sunflower bee (Svastra obliqua). Credit: Ryan Drake Have you noticed a blue vane trap hanging around the Morris Arboretum? It's part of the  Pennsylvania Bee Monitoring Program , which studies regional bee variance across the state. The decline in populations worldwide has called attention to better understand the variation, distribution, and abundance of wild bee pollinators. The bee monitoring program uses three different trapping techniques in order to catch the widest variety of bee species. The blue vane trap hangs two to three feet from the ground, attracting bees with its bright blue color. Nine plastic bowls painted either white, blue, or yellow are laid on the ground in a transect, closer to the populations of ground nesting bees, which make up over 70% of Pennsylvania's bee populations. The final trapping technique is netting, where monitors use butterfly nets to catch any other unique bees they can find in the area. These techniques combined aim to allow monitors to observe the fullest range of wild bee species in an area so they can track changes in population sizes and variety in Pennsylvania. Image The blue vane trap hangs two to three feet from the ground, attracting bees with its bright blue color. Image The final trapping technique is netting, where monitors use butterfly nets to catch any other unique bees they can find in the area. Shown here is Caroline Mertz, the Hay Honey Farm Natural Areas Intern. Image Sorting and identifying collected bees. Image Pinning bees. Image Long-horned bee (Melissodes denticulatus, female). 1 / PREV NEXT Caroline Mertz Ryan Drake Blog Image September 7, 2022 … The Pennsylvania Bee Monitoring Program at the Morris …