The Polly Hill Arboretum will be able to produce the accession tag and display labels which are used on every plant in the arboretum’s living collection, thanks to an Epilog laser engraving label system it will purchase with a $14,400 grant from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust.

Having the ability to produce these labels in-house helps arboretum staff to upgrade curatorial management of their collections and allows data linkage between computerized collections records.

Plant records and their importance have played a significant role in the origins and eventual establishment of the arboretum. Polly Hill, arboretum founder, believed in the process of thoroughly documenting her collections. Through her early involvement with the establishment of the American Horticultural Society’s Plant Records Center she became the first private gardener to computerize her plant rec-ords.

She understood that the notes she kept on her plants transformed her plant collection into a legitimate arboretum. As she said, “it has made all the difference.” This basis in science contributed to David H. Smith’s decision to fund the initial preservation of the property which has become the Polly Hill Arboretum. Today Polly Hill’s record system has evolved from file cards to a computerized records system and now, upgraded accession tags and display labels. Arboretum director Timothy Boland notes, “We are excited to continue to improve upon the process of documenting our collection which Polly understood was so important so many years ago.”

This is the third grant awarded to the arboretum from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust bringing their total funding for arboretum projects to $41,495.