Morris Arboretum & Gardens of the University of Pennsylvania

Visit the Morris this Thursday, August 15 at 11 am for a Dino Suncatcher Craft Activity at the Paleontologist's Cottage! 🦖☀️🎨

Make a special dinosaur-shaped suncatcher that you can use in your home or garden for some prehistoric flair. Free with general admission.

Visit the Garden Railway this Saturday, 8/10 and Sunday, 8/11 (when the rain ends and the sun returns) for Magic Railway Weekend! 🌟🚂💙

Everyone's beloved cartoon train can always be found chugging along in his own section of our Garden Railway, but a few weekends a year he and his friends run free on all the tracks. Join us this weekend to experience the magic!

Free with general admission.

The trains will not be running in the Garden Railway today, Friday, August 9, due to the weather.

The trains will not be running in the Garden Railway today, Thursday, August 8, due to the weather.

Celebrate next week's full moon at the Morris! 🌝 Come to a special Bloomin' Bubbles where we'll learn about the moon phases and dance to special space-themed songs.

Full Moon Bubbles
Tuesday, August 13 • 11 am
Free with general admission.

Even on dreary days, Exuberant Blooms shines through. ✨

Photo: Vince Marrocco, Gayle E. Maloney Director of Horticulture

This Friday's Dino Date Night has been canceled due to the expected weather.

THIS SATURDAY: Plants in the Age of Dinosaurs Tour! 🌿🦖🌿

Saturday, 8/10 • 11 am
Meet at the Welcome Center
Join an experience guide on this exciting new tour to explore living examples of trees and plants that were around when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Conifers, cycads, gingkoes, ferns, mosses, and flowering plants thrived during the Age of the Dinosaurs.

Free with general admission.

We now have signed copies of "Private Gardens of Philadelphia," written by Nicole Juday and photographed by Rob Cardillo Photography, available for purchase in the Welcome Center Shop!

This gorgeous publication is the first-ever coffee table book on Philly's private gardens. Through writing and photography, it showcases how gardening knowledge and plants themselves have been passed down through generations, culminating in a wonderful depth of expression from the artists, designers, writers, conservators, and other experts whose gardens are featured.

And be sure to read "‘Conscious Gardening’: Why Your Garden Needs a Mission Statement" in The New York Times by 'In the Garden' columnist A Way to Garden, from Margaret Roach, which features Nicole Juday, Rob Cardillo, and some of the book's featured Philly gardens: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/realestate/conscious-gardening-plants-design.html

There will be no Bloomin' Bubbles tomorrow, Tuesday, August 6.

We are so delighted to announce Katie Moyer Van Thuyne as the winner of the Summer of Dinos photo contest! ⭐🦖⭐ The first photo is the winning entry—we love the costume, the angle, the lighting—and the second photo made us ROAR with laughter!

Congratulations on winning a family membership to the Morris! We look forward to seeing you in the gardens soon!

Come to the Morris after hours for Dino Date Night! 💕🦖💕 Next Friday, August 9 • 6 – 8 pm

Sit at the top of the hill to view the sunset, play dinosaur word games by the Garden Railway, or draw a picture of your sweetheart in the Fernery. Bring snacks or drinks and enjoy the Garden at the tail end of summer. Kids are also welcome, if you're looking for a family picnic!

Members: Adults $10 • Kids FREE
Non-Members: Adults $30 • Kids $5
Registration required: morrisarboretum.org/see-do/events/dino-date-night

Pennock Garden is in bloom with bright, summer-loving plants and flowers.

Photos: Jen Monico, Compton Horticulturist

LAST CHANCE to enter the Summer of Dinos photo contest for a chance to win a FREE FAMILY MEMBERSHIP to the Morris! ✨🦖✨

Deadline is this Wednesday, July 31, which is also when TyrannoMorris goes extinct, so be sure to visit before then to enter and/or see the 25-foot-tall dinosaur in the Whimsical Woods!

HOW TO ENTER
📷 Take a pic of family/friends with TyrannoMorris Rex

📱 Post it on your Instagram or Facebook feed, tag , and include the hashtag . (Note: Your account must be set to public so we can see your post.)

Learn more:
morrisarb.org/dino-photo-contest

Last week, the University of Pennsylvania featured our Paleontologist’s Cottage in Penn Today. Covered with bromeliads and staghorn ferns, both dating back to the Mesozoic Era, the seasonal structure is a part of our Plants in the Age of Dinosaurs exhibition, which focuses on ancient plants that have thrived and evolved over millions of years.

Read here: https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/whats-that-paleontologists-cottage-morris-arboretum-gardens-mesozoic-plants

Photos: Eric Sucar

The Step Fountain and surrounding beds are filled with lots of colors and pollinators.
🌈🐝☀️

Photo 1 - At the base of the Step Fountain:
Ageratum 'Aguilera Violet'
Dianthus 'Neon Star'
Dianthus 'Peppermint Star'
Mangave ‘Mission to Mars’

Photo 2 - Next to the Step Fountain:
Allium ‘Serendipity’
Hydrangea paniculata Fire Light®
Agapanthus

Photo 3 - Surrounding bed:
Lagerstroemia indica Bellini® Grape
Echinacea PowWow® Wild Berry
Hydrangea paniculata Little Quick Fire®
Crocosmia ‘George Davidson’
Monarda ‘Raspberry Wine’

Photo 4 - Surrounding bed:
Perovskia ‘Blue Jean Baby’
Lagerstroemia indica ‘Cool Beans’
Monarda ‘Raspberry Wine’
Echinacea PowWow® Wild Berry

The next Fossil Friday is August 2 at 11 am!

Fossils are how we learn about dinosaurs and plants. Join us for a fun fossil-themed activity in the Paleontologist's Cottage. 🌿🦖🌿 Free with general admission.

JUST ONE WEEK LEFT to enter our Summer of Dinos photo contest for a chance to win a family membership to the Morris!

HOW TO ENTER
📷 Take a pic of family/friends with TyrannoMorris Rex

📱 Post it on your Instagram or Facebook feed, tag , and include the hashtag . (Note: Your account must be set to public so we can see your post.)

Deadline to enter is Wednesday, July 31!
Learn more: morrisarb.org/dino-photo-contest

Photo: Emmy Aristeo

This Sunday, July 28, stop by the Welcome Center on your way into the Garden to sample tomatoes during their peak season! Starting at 11 am and throughout the day, we'll have several tomato varieties to try, as well as recipes and information for you to learn more about these juicy summer delights. 🍅

Free with general admission.

Cardoon (Cynura cardunculus) is a Mediterranean native that grows from Morocco to Greece. This herbaceous perennial is a cousin of the artichoke and can be found in the wild growing in hot, dry conditions. Despite these natural tendencies, cardoons are hardy in the Philadelphia region, and their bold thistle-like flowers are a striking addition to the mid-summer garden.

Stop by the Ellipse Garden (between the Rose Garden and Wisteria Walk) on your next visit to see cardoon in bloom.

This Tuesday, July 23 at 11 am, join us for Disco Bubbles! In this event just for kids, we will transform the Whimsical Woods into a magical bubble party—and this week is a disco dance party! Come in bell bottoms, sparkly outfits, and get ready to bust a move!

Free with general admission.
Meet in the Whimsical Woods.

Nature Explorers Camp: Availability for Ages 6 – 10 in July! 🌳🔍

We have two openings available for the week of July 22 and one opening available for the week of July 29 for Bloomfield Buddies (ages 6 – 10) in our Nature Explorers Camp.

Register NOW, as these spots will go quick!
morrisarb.org/camp

As the summer gets hotter, so does Exuberant Blooms! 🔥🌈🔥 Over 10,000 heat-loving plants in the eight paisley-shaped flower beds will get keep getting brighter, bolder, and taller as the season progresses.

Keep an eye out for pollinators, including lots of butterflies and hummingbirds! 🦋

morrisarb.org/exuberant-blooms

Enter the Summer of Dinos photo contest for a chance to win a FREE year-long family membership to the Morris Arboretum & Gardens! 📷🦖⭐

The deadline to enter is Wednesday, July 31, so visit this month and get your photo on!

Learn how to enter: morrisarb.org/dino-photo-contest

Photo: Laura Pong

What's in Bloom: July

From the pink, cloud-like clusters of Tuskegee crapemyrtle (Lagerstroemia ‘Tuskegee’) shown here, to the giant fragrant flowers of Bracken’s Brown Beauty southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora ‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty’), there's lots of blooms to see this month at the Morris.

Learn more: morrisarb.org/bloom-july

Due to the Heat Health Emergency in Philadelphia, all public tours at the Morris are canceled this week through Wednesday, July 17.

Don't miss out on Dino Weekend! Ages 17 and under get in FREE this Saturday, July 13 & Sunday, July 14!

Join us for tons of prehistoric fun, including dino-related kids activities throughout the weekend; our two summer exhibitions, Plants in the Age of Dinosaurs and Garden Railway: Dinos!; and a guided tour on Saturday at 11am where you will explore living examples of trees and plants that were around when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

✨📸✨ And don't forgot to enter our Summer of Dinos photos contest for a chance to win a FREE year-long family membership to the Morris!

Learn more: morrisarb.org/summer-of-dinos

Shown here is the pollinated female cone of a Shalimar deodar cedar (Cedrus deodara ‘Shalimar’), located next to the John and Lydia Morris statues in the Azalea Meadow. Native to the Himalayas, Shalimar deodar cedar is winter hardy in our region, and was introduced by the Arnold Arboretum in the early 1980s from seed collected in Kashmir in 1964. The pollinated female cones grow in spring and summer, and they turn from green to brown as they mature.

Welcome to our new rosarian, Eloise Gayer! 🌹

Now that Erin Monda (nee Conley) is lead horticulturist and managing English Park, Eloise will be overseeing the Rose Garden—but this isn't her first time with our roses: Eloise was the Morris Rose Garden intern in 2020.

Most recently, Eloise was the lead horticulturist at Stoneleigh in Villanova, and prior to that she held positions at Rutgers Gardens (public gardens management intern), Morris Arboretum & Gardens (Charles S. Holman rose intern), Chanticleer (horticulture intern), and was awarded the Christopher Lloyd Scholarship by Chanticleer, where she spent the better part of a year working and training at Great Dixter House & Gardens in the UK.

Make sure to say hi to Eloise next time you see her in the Rose Garden! 👋

A summertime oasis at the end of Oak Allée. 🌿☀️🌿