University of Maryland Arboretum and Botanical Garden

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University of Maryland Arboretum and Botanical Garden This is the official page of the University of Maryland Arboretum and Botanical Garden Mote, Jr.’s commitment to becoming a green campus.

The University of Maryland, the state’s flagship campus, is located in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. The American Association of Public Gardens, by designating the university as an arboretum and botanical garden in 2008, recognized then President C.D. Maryland is also the first university in the state to be honored as a Tree Campus USA by the Arbor Day Foundation. The 1,250 acre UMD Arboretum and Botanical Garden is a campus-wide arboretum with 800 landscaped acres and 400 acres of undeveloped urban forest. Our gardens are a beautiful reminder of Maryland’s history and a harbinger of Maryland’s future. The university sees our campus green space as a research and teaching space. Through exemplary practices of environmental stewardship, horticulture and urban forestry, the Arboretum and Botanical Garden will enhance the campus’ aesthetic and promote awareness of conservation and preservation of our natural environment for the enrichment of the university community, the citizens of Maryland and our visitors.

🌿Explore and experience UMD’s Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. The UMD Garden Crawl invites Android smartphone users in ...
10/09/2026

🌿Explore and experience UMD’s Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. The UMD Garden Crawl invites Android smartphone users in the University of Maryland community to step outside and share the places that make UMD’s campus feel alive.🌿

From October 9–November 8, submit your discoveries using an experimental version of the Proofmode Android App, for a chance to win up to $1000 in gift cards and prizes through challenges while contributing to a trusted community-built record of UMD’s gardens. Photos captured with Proofmode include verifiable information about where and when they were taken, ensuring submissions are based on real experiences in real places.

Qualifying Entries must be captured with Proofmode’s in-app camera (currently only available for Android users) during the event timeframe, within an approved garden submission zone, meet the event’s technical requirements, and pass internal review. There is no limit to the number of submissions you can make during the event; however, only qualifying entries count toward prize eligibility. Explore the submission zones on the UMD Garden Crawl Map.

Ready to get started? Visit the UMD Garden Crawl Website for more information about the event, how to use Proofmode, and how to participate.

Did you know that the fruit of Kousa Dogwood (Cornus kousa) can be delicious? Many Kousa Dogwood fruits that I have tas...
10/09/2026

Did you know that the fruit of Kousa Dogwood (Cornus kousa) can be delicious? Many Kousa Dogwood fruits that I have tasted over the years are inedible in my opinion. I heard that they were edible many years ago, but never actually met one that was edible, until I tried some a couple of years ago in the Moxley Garden, behind the Riggs Alumni Center.

It is only about 25% of the Kousa Dogwood trees in the Moxley Garden that have edible, good tasting fruit. It appears that there may be different ecotypes, with some having much tastier fruit. The ones with larger size fruit with a much smoother exterior, without the extended bumps appear to be more likely to be delicious. Wilfred, a crew foreman for Hometown Landscape, and several of his coworkers enjoyed the Kousa Dogwood fruits and thought they were delicious.

photos and post by Sam Bahr, horticulturist

10/09/2026

The Chimney Swifts were back again this evening. However, this time I was better prepared and was able to get better videos with my cell phone. These videos were taken of the north chimney of the central, taller portion of Anne Arundel Hall on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park on Thursday, October 8, 2026. Sundown on October 8 was at 6:26 pm.

The first Chimney Swifts did not arrive until around 6:43 pm. They were circling around, all going the same direction. They rotated the same direction on the previous two evenings. A couple of birds went down the chimney around 6:46 pm; however, must decided they were not quite ready to settle down for the night yet. Relatively large numbers started entering the chimney around 6:52 pm. Even more started entering the chimney around 6:53 pm. A couple must have ran into a traffic jam as the appeared to pop back out of the chimney.

Massive numbers of Chimney Swifts entered the chimney at 6:57 pm. Only a few stragglers were left at 6:58 pm with no more entering the chimney after 6:59 pm. I wonder if some decided to fly off and roost in trees as I am doubtful that all of those birds swirling around fit in that chimney.

We are a member of the Bird Campus USA organization and were delighted to see these Chimney Swifts. While I may have seen Chimney Swifts racing by me in the daylight, I was not able to recognize them and certainly had never seen them flying into a chimney like this before. I thought it was a spectacular sight; however, precious few people looked up and noticed.

How long will the Chimney Swifts repeat this behavior at Anne Arundel Hallt? I have no idea, but I certainly enjoyed that moment in time that I experienced.

videos and post by Sam Bahr, horticulturist

🌿 Nature Positive just launched their first on-campus bioblitz! It starts today and is open-ended, to allow for more dat...
10/08/2026

🌿 Nature Positive just launched their first on-campus bioblitz! It starts today and is open-ended, to allow for more data collection. Submit your observations and help highlight UMD's biodiversity!

10/07/2026

Hope we do not see this little Hummingbird again until next summer. It is way behind schedule and should no longer be here according to a Ruby-throated Hummingbird Fall Migration Map of Dates. It should be in Mobile, Alabama this week!

video and post by Sam Bahr, horticulturist

10/07/2026

Have you ever seen over a hundred birds diving into a chimney in a 10 minute period of time? That just happened for the first time in my life (yes, I am an old codger at 66). I was doing watering of recently installed plants and the 3 large pots on Tawes Plaza when I saw a hummingbird visiting the pots that I was watering. No sooner had I managed to capture the hummingbird on video when I noticed probably well over a 100 birds swirling above Anne Arundel Hall like a tornado. The location of the tornado of birds shifted rapidly and did not touch down anywhere; however, it remained mostly centered above Anne Arundel Hall.

I thought it would be hopeless to try to make a decent video with my cell phone as there was not much to focus on, so I didn't think about it too much at first. I finally decided that something special was happening and tried to make a video the best I could. The first part of the video turned out a little better than expected as I left a bit of Anne Arundel Hall in the screen which allowed the cell phone to focus. When I tried to just capture the birds in the sky, without the building, the cell phone could no longer focus. However, in the first part of this video, you can see birds flying into the chimney. My guess is that they were Chimney Swifts.

The speed at which they entered the chimney was inspiring. The Chimney Swifts appeared to be only using one of the 4 chimneys on Anne Arundel Hall. Consider watching or videoing this wonderful natural phenomenon tomorrow evening, if they are still around in the area. If you gather on Tawes Plaza, you should be able to see them, if you are there from 6:30 pm to 7 pm. At 7:06 pm, I think they were all inside of the chimney.

While this video was shot in high definition, I do not think you will be able to see the birds on a cell phone. Use that big screen!

Video by Sam Bahr, horticulturist

The Swamp Sunflowers (Helianthus angustifolius), Eastern Shore of Maryland ecotype are still blooming heavily in the Tal...
10/05/2026

The Swamp Sunflowers (Helianthus angustifolius), Eastern Shore of Maryland ecotype are still blooming heavily in the Tall Grass Prairie in the rough, immediately behind the clubhouse of the University of Maryland Golf Course. The Swamp Sunflower is quite variable in height. Many of these are less than 24 inches tall. However, last year, a much wetter year, we had some that topped out at 8.5 feet.

Any sunflower description stating that a named cultivar is a dwarf version of the Willowleaf Sunflower (Helianthus salicifolius) is incorrect. It is actually a dwarf selection of the Swamp Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius). There are no dwarf versions of the Willowleaf Sunflower (Helianthus salicifolius), in spite of an Australian having gotten a US patent stating as such. Neither the Australian or the US Patent Office were able to identify the plants correctly. The areas the two sunflower species thrive in are on opposite ends of the wet to dry spectrum.

Because of the danger of getting hit by golf balls, this tallgrass prairie is off limits to visitors. However, we wanted to share photos of the wonderful things happening for wildlife in this rough area at the UMD Golf Course.

video, photos and post by Sam Bahr, horticulturist

The amazing Drunken Lotus (Hibiscus mutabilis) have started blooming on Tawes Plaza. The common name Drunken Lotus only...
10/03/2026

The amazing Drunken Lotus (Hibiscus mutabilis) have started blooming on Tawes Plaza. The common name Drunken Lotus only applies to those plants that have the double flowers as the flowers have a disheveled appearance. The single flowered forms are called Tree Lotus. They are one of the last flowers to start blooming. The plants die back to the ground every year or to the line where covered with a mound of mulch; however, by the end of the growing season they may reach up to about 12-15 feet tall.

photos and post by Sam Bahr, horticulturist

10/02/2026

Consider gardening as a hobby to increase your quality of life!

video shared by Sam Bahr, horticulturist

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3931 Stadium Drive
College Park, MD
20742

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