Ian Peach won’t tell you his favorite tree at Polly Hill Arboretum because he doesn’t have one. But the new executive director of the living museum and nonprofit will tell you the stories behind each of the trees — the local beetlebungs and the Japanese maples, the common oaks and the allée of dogwoods.
“When you see a plant here, when you see a tree here, paired with that is a story,” he said.
Mr. Peach started the position in July, dropped right into the bloom of midsummer. He succeeds Tim Boland, the executive director since 2004, in maintaining the historic property.
During his tenure, Mr. Peach hopes to steward education at the arboretum, while also thinking critically about the impacts of climate change on its collection of species.
“It feels like this other plane that deserves this care and stewardship, and so just to be part of that is super special,” he said.
Since opening to the public in 1998, the arboretum has garnered local and international recognition for its extensive collection of local and exotic trees and plants. Previously, the 70-acre property was a sheep farm, and in 1958 it was planted and preserved by amateur botanist Polly Hill. Since then, the arboretum has preserved 20 acres under cultivation and an additional 50 in wildlife corridors.
Part of Mr. Peach’s job will be to encourage more plant diversity in the open habitats of grasslands, shrubs and meadows. In the property’s central meadow, winged sumac (Rhus copallinum) heavily dominates the open landscape, bordered by dogwoods and hardy conifers, which serve as a wind-break to “protect [Polly’s] playpen,” said Mr. Peach.
“[Polly] said she would haunt us if we planted in the meadows,” he added.
This is the kind of ecological land management question that Mr. Peach is familiar with, along with the landscape. A New Boston, N.H. native, he grew up visiting Cape Cod, developing an affinity for the coastal landscape. After graduating from Middlebury College, he worked on native plant restoration efforts in San Francisco before turning to farming.
“[Agriculture] is really the backbone to my life,” he said “The constant is, I always want to have this agrarian connection behind everything…it’s sort of a way of living for me.”
In his 20s, Mr. Peach started a small CSA at an experimental farm in New Hampshire, where he was often distracted by non-agrarian botany.
“I would have rows of crops and I’d be turning around, looking in the unmowed areas, trying to ID plants,” he said. “And you’ve got to finish your work in the fields, but I’d be distracted by these field edges.”
During his master’s in landscape architecture at Cornell University, Mr. Peach completed a fellowship in horticulture in New Zealand. It’s a place where conservation is deeply ingrained and valued in the public consciousness, a “contagious spirit,” he said.
He worked on temporary parks after a major earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, helping to rebuild the city with urban landscapes, and curating “moments of joy with plants,” he said.
“I think the most fulfilling is when it’s a landscape that’s public, and people can just come in and enjoy that,” he said.
It’s been about 10 years since Mr. Peach moved to the Vineyard full time. Here, he’s worked as a superintendent at the Land Bank, getting to know the Island’s particular landscapes, trails and communities. He lives at Slipaway Farm on Chappaquiddick with his wife and farm owner, Lily Walter, and their two children.
His four-year-old son Larkin and his eight-year-old daughter Juna are frequent visitors to the arboretum. They set up an “office” in the attic of the old homestead, complete with magnifying glasses and clipboards, and take walks on the property on Sundays.
“A great way to show [Larkin] the arboretum would be to show him plants and tell him stories,” said Mr. Peach. “That’s really a very direct and easy way to make plant science, botanical knowledge, species diversity accessible…That’s how you bring people to plants.”
The arboretum is frequently evaluating which trees should be accessioned and deaccessioned, museum terms for adding and removing from a collection. It’s more than just replacing old trees with a younger individual of the same species: the decisions will be influenced by pests, pathogens and climate change.
For example, the beech-dominant canopy of the wildlife corridor is currently battling beech-leaf disease, caused by an invasive roundworm that feeds on the spring buds of beech trees, deteriorating its foliage and preventing photosynthesis. The arboretum stays up to date on the affliction, and can test intensive treatments on the property’s legacy beeches, said Mr. Peach.
They’re also piloting a native plant garden, showcasing an act of restoration that visitors can replicate in their own homes. The plot doesn’t look like much now — it’s tarped to kill off weeds before planting — but visitors will eventually be able to visualize what native plants look like together, and be able to purchase those same species from Polly Hill’s greenhouse.
In the interim, Mr. Peach is still learning to read the landscape. He takes daily walks around the property and spends time with the staff, listening to the personal and historical stories of the trees.
And he’s enjoying an abundance of favorite trees. There are many candidates: The Kentucky coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus) that grows outside the window of Mr. Peach’s office; the “crazy looking” monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana), a “botanical wonder” native to Chile and Argentina and beloved by kids; the big-leaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla), an “otherworldly,” beetle-pollinated, old species named after Polly’s husband.
Also, the row of beetlebung trees (Nyssa sylvatica) planted by Polly herself, with seeds collected from Beetlebung Corner in Chilmark.
“Picture this little old woman with like a shopping bag, pulling down all the seeds, and then planting them here,” said Mr. Peach, stopping in front of the tall, 70-year-old trees that line a stone wall. “The children of Beetlebung Corner making this really nice line. And here we are standing today.”
This article appears in August 21, 2026.