Smith Botanic Garden Among State's Outdoor Gems

The Smith Botanic Garden broadened its reach in two ways recently.

The Botanic Garden last week was awarded an arboretum accreditation (Level III) by the ArbNet accreditation program. The accreditation recognizes the quality of the facility’s education programs, according to Botanic Garden Director Michael Marcotrigiano, and would not have been possible without the facility’s strong tree collection, which includes more than 500 kinds of trees or woody plants in growth.

Other credentials required for the accreditation include:

• a dedicated curator focused on care and development of the college’s arboretum collection;
• an agenda of programs related to tree science, planting or conservation;
• substantial education programming related to trees, conservation and other related topics;
• specific consideration of a conservation role linked to the Global Trees Campaign.

The Smith Botanic Garden was also listed recently on Mass Botanic Gardens, a website collective of 10 renowned public gardens in the state. “With most gardens [on the website] in the eastern part of the state it is nice to see us listed as a destination to lure some Bostonians into the much more pastoral scenery of western Mass.,” said Marcotrigiano.