Conserving North America’s Rare Trees, Tim Boland, Polly Hill Arboretum

Founded in 1998, the Polly Hill Arboretum (PHA) is a public garden located on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in West Tisbury, Massachusetts, USA. PHA added plant conservation to its mission statement as a primary focus in 2006. Timothy Boland came to PHA in 2002 as the Arboretum’s first curator, assuming the executive director position in 2004. Through establishing and growing the arboretum facilities and staff, PHA’s emphasis has shifted from ornamental horticulture to growing plants endangered in their natural environments, sharing them with conservation partners, and sharing their stories with visitors of all ages. The Arboretum focuses on tree genera that can adapt to the challenging growing conditions on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Working with a talented PHA collections team and collaborating with several US and international gardens, over twenty seed expeditions have been completed. Student interns often participate in these trips; PHA is committed to training the next generation of curators and plant conservationists.

You Are What You Eat: Insect-Plant Relationships, Adam Kohl, Oxbow Associates

A review of the myriad of ways our local insects use plants for food and shelter. Major orders of insects will be discussed along with their requirements as they relate to plants. Varying techniques of feeding and sheltering will be explained with an emphasis on how Cape Cod homeowners, gardeners, and landscapers can begin to consider insects in their decision making processes.

Tim Boland is the Executive Director of the Polly Hill Arboretum, located on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in West Tisbury, Massachusetts USA. He holds an undergraduate degree in horticulture and a master’s in botany, plant ecology, and systematics from Michigan State University. He is involved in several plant conservation projects to preserve threatened trees in North America and Asia with an emphasis on oaks and stewartia. He is a member of the Board of the International Oak Society and chair of the Oak Conservation and Research Committee, which manages a grant program that currently funds over twenty projects. In addition, Tim and his conservation partners on Martha’s Vineyard are working on an updated flora of Martha’s Vineyard and the surrounding islands. He also has expertise in propagating rare North American trees and shrubs and participated in seven expeditions to map and collect two species of native North American stewartia. In 2016, Polly Hill Arboretum was designated by the as the international cultivar registration authority (ICRA) for the genus Stewartia.

Adam Kohl is a Field Botanist and Environmental Scientist working for Oxbow Associates Inc. performing state-listed plant surveys in New England. Additional professional experience includes work with aquatic and terrestrial insects, native plant propagation, and municipal wetland permitting. In the past Adam has worked for Cole Ecological, the towns of Wendell and Leverett, and Native Plant Trust. As a consultant Adam has performed botanical and entomological work on behalf of Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary, Landscape Interactions, and Maine Audubon and has taught classes at Garden in the Woods, Harvard Forest’s Fisher Museum, Grow Native MA, and local libraries. Adam is particularly passionate about biological inventories including groups/taxa such as plants, flower-visiting insects, gall-makers, leafminers, and regularly surveys for moths and other insects using blacklights.