Polly Hill Arboretum

Biff Birmingham

Panama Canal as Nature’s Microcosm

In the Panama Canal the grand challenges facing the world are played out in miniature. Here freshwater management, deforestation, biodiversity and global warming have converged to pose economic challenges that the rest of the world may not face for decades. From his perch in the middle of the rainforest, Biff Birmingham, director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), has made this convergence the focus of his research. He spoke at the Polly Hill Arboretum on Wednesday night.

Agricultural Society, Polly Hill Join Forces to Buy Vineyard Museum Land

The Martha’s Vineyard Museum is close to selling the West Tisbury land once envisioned as its future home to the neighbors, the Polly Hill Arboretum and the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society.

The sale is likely to be completed by the end of the week, arboretum executive director Tim Boland said. Surveying work was underway and everything was going very positively, he said.

“We both could see real utilitarian needs [for the land] ... and we feel strongly about keeping it in the agrarian spirit,” Mr. Boland said of the unified purchase with the agricultural society.

New Arboretum Assessment Made Possible With Grant

The Polly Hill Arboretum recently completed its second conservation assessment through a grant administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Service’s Heritage Preservation Program. The assessment was an opportunity to update an original assessment which was completed in 2001.

$200,000 Grant Awarded To Polly Hill Arboretum

The Polly Hill Arboretum has received a grant of $200,000 from the Foundation Franklinia for 2009. The grant includes $100,000 toward the arboretum’s seeds for the future capital campaign endowment and $100,000 toward operating costs in support of the living collection.

Kick the Habit With Chemical-Free Lawns

On May 31, the Polly Hill Arboretum and the Vineyard Conservation Society will welcome Paul Tukey, founder of SafeLawns.org, an international coalition promoting environmentally friendly lawn care, for a lively discussion on lawns.

Botanist Polly Hill Turns 100; Quiet Ceremony at Arboretum

Mary Louisa Butcher Hill always wanted a greenhouse.

So for her 100th birthday this week, Mrs. Hill - who is known to everyone on the Vineyard as Polly - finally got one.

Polly Hill Arboretum Opens

For years the Polly Hill Arboretum was the secret treasure of a select few — friends and acquaintances of Mrs. Hill, people with a special interest in horticulture or gardening, and Island residents and visitors who stumbled upon the peaceful refuge by chance.
 

Stephen A. Spongberg Is Named as First Executive Director of Polly Hill Arboretum

The Polly Hill Arboretum has appointed Stephen A. Spongberg as its first executive director, effective Feb. 16.
 
Recognized as one of the world’s leading horticulturists, Mr. Spongberg is currently the horticultural taxonomist at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.
 

Polly Hill Arboretum Awarded $300,000

State environmental affairs secretary Trudy Coxe this week contributed the state’s share of $300,000 towards the preservation of the Polly Hill Arboretum Inc.
 
Before an audience of 60 people at the Barnard Inn Farm in West Tisbury on Tuesday, the state environmental affairs secretary praised the efforts of Polly Hill and the unusual partnership that has arisen with David H. Smith and his foundation.
 

David Smith and Polly Hill Form Unusual Conservation Alliance

He is a doctor whose pioneering research and development work helped to eliminate an infectious disease that once struck thousands of children each year. She is a four-decade resident of the Vineyard and a pioneer in her own right, an avant garde horticulturalist whose work in her North Tisbury arboretum has received national recognition.
 

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