51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Arboretum is open to the public every day from sunrise to sunset, free of charge. We strive to offer monthly, seasonal and annual programs to the College and surrounding communities. Our annual Native Plant Sale kicks off the academic year along with educational programs and tours. Autumn astounds us with her beauty and our annual Smaller American Gardens Today (SALT) conference, more tours and programs. We celebrate the spring semester with Arbor Day, announcing our photo contest winners, begin our free tour season, and culminate with the popular Music in the Meadow. Join us and learn about the natural world around you!
Programs
As the leaves change color and begin to fall, we have many walks for you to enjoy. Join us on our Fall Color Walk, a Mamacoke Island Walk in the Park and our Campus Tree Collection tour. A public meeting of the Mamacoke Island Aquatic Habitat Resilience Project needs your support and we hope you will continue to join us at this year's SALT Conference, Living on the Edge. Details can be found in the link below.
Research
Long term research of The Bolleswood Natural Area, one of the few sites in North America where both forest and vegetation along with bird population have been monitored, has systematically taken place for over 70 years. Our study of vegetation dynamics on tidal salt marshes of Mamacoke Island Natural Area occurs every two years since the late 1950s.
strives to increase New London’s tree population through community planting and care, education, and advocacy by helping the City of New London maintain a detailed inventory of municipal trees and trees planted by New London Trees, as well as removed municipal trees since 2018.
Our 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Arboretum Research Bibliography to 2026 is available for reference.
Great Horned Owl
Publications
Arboretum Bulletins (1-45) are available as pdfs at free of charge and print publications can be purchased by emailing us at arbor@conncoll.edu or using our system. Our Annual Reports are our historical accounts of each academic year and are also available on . Members receive a print copy in the mail prior to year end. We also offer many other publications and posters. Please use the link below for details. If you have any questions, call our office at 860-439-5020.
Resources
The Arboretum encourages ecological landscaping, an approach that emphasizes the environmental consequences of plant choices and management procedures used in creating a landscape. We encourage and strive to educate our community on the proper techniques of invasive plant removal. We strongly encourage native plants and decreasing the size of your lawn. Our new demonstration garden at 33 Gallows Lane will soon be flourishing and we will be hosting many programs for our community members to learn these techniques.
, established in 1985, collects and distributes information about 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏecticut's largest and most historic trees, both native and introduced. This all volunteer group has documented 5,000 individual tree records, 508 different kinds of trees and over 10,000 tree images.
The Charles B. Graves Herbarium in New London Hall and digitized for viewing through the contains over 15,000 plant specimens and is used to investigate the distribution of plant species as well as to teach plant identification skills. It emphasizes the flora of New England, with a primary concentration on 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏecticut and local natural areas. Dr. Charles B. Graves (1860-1936) donated his pressed and mounted specimens to the College in 1930. Several plants, which Dr. Graves discovered and which were named in his honor, are contained in this collection.
Arboretum Office
Mailing Address
51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Arboretum
270 Mohegan Avenue
New London, CT 06320
Main office
33 Gallows Lane, Suite 114
New London, CT 06320