Adult Programs at the Arboretum

Valentine's Carriage Rides

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16 | 1 - 4 PM
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17 | 1 - 4 PM

Tickets | $18 Adult | $12 Child | $75 Private Carriage

Celebrate Valentine's Day and the winter landscape with a horse-drawn stroll through the Arboretum! Our friends at Classic Carriage LLC will be providing rides on two dates. Reservations are highly recommended as this event is often sold out in advance. Please call us at (540)-568-3194 during our business hours, Monday-Friday from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm to reserve your space!

Carriages depart from the Frances Plecker Education Center every 20 minutes.

13th Annual
Frances Litten Botanical Lecture

No Tree is an Island | Speaker, Joe Murray

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19 | 7 - 8:30 PM
FESTIVAL CONFERENCE & STUDENT CENTER BALLROOM
Free Event

This year, in celebrating our 30th year as the Year of the Trees, the Frances Litten Botanical Lecture will focus on a special tree-themed topic. Trees are gregarious organisms that have formed mutualistic relationships with members of all five kingdoms of life on earth. Discover the Wood Wide Web, and its interacting communication systems as you come to see the forest as "organism". Learn how trees can become more resilient to stress factors and climate change when humans assist them in establishing their interconnected webs, above and below ground, creating a more sustainable landscape.

Joe Murray has a Masters of Science in Plant Pathology from Virginia Tech, Masters in Teaching from the University of Richmond, and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Radford University. He is a certified arborist, certified utility arborist, and a Tree Risk Assessment Qualification instructor.

Holistic Tree Care Workshop

With Instructor Joe Murray

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20 | 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
$20 Registration

Continuing with the previous evening's presentation learn strategies for deciding what kind of care is most needed and beneficial for your trees, and when mulching, pruning or irrigation are in the best interests of your trees or not. Learn some basics about soils, organic matter, and permaculture as it relates to tree care, and how to replicate the "forest" habitat so that your trees will not just survive but thrive in place for many years to come.

Joe Murray has a Masters of Science in Plant Pathology from Virginia Tech, Masters in Teaching from the University of Richmond, and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Radford University. He is a certified arborist, certified utility arborist, and a Tree Risk Assessment Qualification instructor.

Registration required, meet at the Frances Plecker Education Center

**For a comprehensive educational experience, we strongly recommend all workshop participants attend the Frances Litten Botanical Lecture the night before.** 

Register

Winter Tree ID: Walk & Talk

A collaborative event with Sustainability Matters

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27 | 12 - 1:30 PM
$10/Registration

They all look the same without their leaves, don't they? Join Sustainability Matters and Edith J. Carrier Arboretum for a guided walk and ID primer by Virginia State Forester Jordan Herring. We'll learn how to recognize trees by bark, buds, leaf scars and other characteristics. There'll be time for Q&A and chat in the Frances Plecker Education Center afterward. Bring your own lunch if you would like (can be left in the FPEC during the walk); light fare and beverages will be provided. 

Dress for the weather!

REGISTER

Brown Bag Lunch Lecture

Wings of Spring: Bird Migration
Speaker | Rich Wood

THURSDAY, MARCH 14 | 12 - 1 PM

Join us for a brown bag lecture with Arboretum staff member and avid birder, Rich Wood! He’ll review the upcoming birding season, some of the highlighted species seen this winter and some of the best spots to see these winged wonders at the Arboretum.

Bring your lunch and meet us in the Frances Plecker Education Center!

Brown Bag Lunch Lecture

Wildflowers of Spain
Speaker | Rae Lynn Kasdan

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27 | 12 - 1 PM

The Picos de Europa is a mountainous region on the north coast of Spain, and it's also the name of a national park that straddles three provinces.  It is part of “green Spain” as the geography is influenced by the Atlantic and the climate is cool and moist.  The scenery is spectacular and dominated by mountains ranging from 500- 8700 feet. The Picos is considered by some to be one of the last truly wild places in Europe and is an area of great biodiversity.

Traveler Rae Lynn Kasdan will share her experience of exploring this incredible region over the course of an 8-day excursion, showcasing the blooming wildflowers found there. 

Bring your lunch and join us in the Frances Plecker Education Center!

Understory: Native Wildflowers

Artist Talk with Jackie Labovitz

THURSDAY, MARCH 28 | 5 - 7 PM
FREE

Jackie Bailey Labovitz grew up in rural Virginia, and graduated with a degree in fine arts. After completing a fellowship at the National Endowment for the Arts, she became an independent art curator. She created collections for embassies, consulates, and corporations around the world.

Jackie will talk about selected pieces from her collection, Understory, a photography exhibition celebrating the short perennial lives of native plants that bloom beneath the forest canopy.

Light hors d’oeuvres served. Meet in the Frances Plecker Education center.