What better place to go to enjoy autumn splendor than an arboretum?? Never heard of the word? Simply defined, it is a collection of trees. Many public gardens also have a collection of trees, with a focus on other types of plant material such as annuals and perennials. An arboretum is basically the reverse of that; a public garden that displays annuals and perennials, but has a focus on trees and other woody plants.
Located just outside of Philly, which happens to be the garden capital of the world, Tyler Arboretum began in 1825 when over 1000 species of trees and shrubs were planted on the property.
I posted a link for a Groupon to Tyler on my Facebook page a few weeks back and although it was already on my list of places to go to, that bumped it up to the top because I can’t pass up a good deal!
Tyler Arboretum is designed with littles in mind. Treehouses galore and numerous natural play areas keep them busy the entire time and even better, kept them intrigued. Each stop is completely different than the one before. They can play music in a giant guitar, be a bird in a nest, cook up a meal, look through a spyglass, find their way through a maze and much more. In the Summer months, you can even visit a butterfly house to get up close and personal with some fluttery friends.
Their favorite exhibit by far was the one pictured below, an “underground” tunnel which led to more tunnels made out of branches. They could have spent the entire time chasing each other through this display and pretending we were monsters on the outside trying to get them.
I especially loved the magical path. Full of fairies, gnomes and whimsy, this section of woodland trail was like a little treasure hunt for D. The “creatures” were tucked in to nooks and crannies and even hung at eye level. When I was a gardener at Mt. Cuba Center, we hid our own little fairies in the gardens for visitors to find so it was so fun to see other gardener’s doing the same.
No adventure is truly complete without a little H2O so we made our way to the pond, and of course the boys tossed a few leaves in for good measure! I’m sure it is full of frogs and turtles during the warmer months, but for now it was full of leaves and duckweed. D noticed that some of the leaves were on the bottom of the pond and some were floating. It is amazing to me how a 4 year old notices things like that and is eager to learn the science behind those curiosities. Mother Nature is both a teacher and a classroom.
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