Explore The Arboretum
A hidden gem in Webster, NY, the arboretum offers 1½ miles of trails through gardens, groves, and woodlands, showcasing native and unique trees and plants. Highlights include a conifer garden with boulders and a 'river of stone,' a flower-shaped herb garden, a circular bulb garden, and collections of perennials, dahlias, and daylilies. Relax by the fountain pond, explore creek beds with waterfalls, and enjoy scenic bridges. The arboretum is home to many native birds and provides picnic areas near the Curry Building. In winter, it’s perfect for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Dogs are welcome (on leash).
Located directly next to our parking lot
Herb Garden
The Harrison Herb Garden was originally developed in 1998 and is organized into five pods surrounding a sacred garden. The garden was designed in the shape of a flower and is maintained by Beverly Gibson, a certified arborist and Master Gardener who spent a year researching the plan and implemented the design with the help of Alana Miller.
The plants are separated into groups based on their uses. The six beds are designated as culinary, medicinal, fragrance, Native American and dyes, with a sacred garden at the center. “Herb” is a loose term; if any part of a plant can be used, it is considered an herb. Generally speaking, herbs come from a plant that dies back in winter and is valued for a specific use. Generally, we think of using the leaves, but we can also use the flowers, stems and roots. Early cultures relied heavily on herbs for medicines, colors and preservatives.
Located Behind the Curry Building
Conifer (Pinetum) Garden
The Webster Arboretum has a lovely conifer garden located behind the Curry Building and to the right. Meander along the paths through this beautifully maintained conifer garden.
Conifer does not necessarily mean conical. These trees range in size and shape from giants of the forest to plants that are very flat.
Their different growth habits give landscape designers many elements to work with. (Information obtained from the American Conifer Society).
For more detailed information about conifers visit www2.conifersociety.org
Located in the conifer garden
Trees of Interest
Japanese Umbrella Pine (Sciadopitys): A Living Fossil
In its native Japan, umbrella pine is called koyamaki. It was once considered one of the “Five Sacred Trees of Kiso” (an area near Kyoto), which common folks were forbidden to cut down.
On Mt. Kiso today, natives buy koyamaki branches to put on loved ones’ graves. They believe that the spirits of their ancestors can return to the world of the living by touching a koyamaki branch.
Japanese umbrella pine isn’t really a pine at all, but belongs to a family of its own, Sciadopityaceae. Umbrella pine has existed for 230 million years—even before the dinosaurs.
It used to be found in North America and Europe; now Japan is the only place it’s found in the wild. If you can’t make it to Japan, this specimen can be found at The Webster Arboretum.
Umbrella pine gets its name from the way each bunch of its soft evergreen needles are whorled around the stem—like the ribs of an umbrella.
The needles are flexible and glossy, and like the leaves of many fir trees, they seem to have been molded out of plastic.
Located near the parking lot and to the left of the Curry Building.
The Dahlia Garden
The stunning dahlia garden is planted and maintained yearly by the Rochester Dahlia Society.
The garden boasts numerous varieties of dahlias and cultivars. Most are labeled for informational and tracking purposes. Dahlias come in a variety of colors and forms. You will find the large “dinner-plate” size dahlias to the tiny ball dahlias, with all varieties in-between. From a single color to variegated to blends, this stunning garden displays the full range of colors of the dahlia.
Best Time for Blooms: Dahlias start to bloom in June and reach their peak color in August and September and will continue to bloom until frost. The garden attracts hundreds of visitors each year, including artists, photographers, and flower lovers of all ages. In addition to attracting a wide variety of insects and butterflies, you will witness migrating monarchs in September and October feeding on dahlias. You can find a shady spot to sit under the gazebo.
Check out the Rochester Dahlia Society:
https://www.rochesterdahlias.org/
Throughout the Arboretum
Bird Watching
Bird watching at the Webster Arboretum. Below you will find just a few of the bird varieties that have been sited at The Webster Arboretum. It is an ideal location to watch and study our native birds.
Northern Flickers are large, brown woodpeckers
with a gentle expression and handsome black-
scalloped plumage.
The Canada goose (Branta canadensis) is a large species of goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body.
Morning Doves are a graceful, slender-tailed, small-headed dove that’s common across the continent. Mourning Doves perch on telephone wires and forage for seeds on the ground; their flight is fast and bullet
straight. Their soft, drawn-out calls sound like laments. When taking off, their wings make a sharp whistling or
whinnying sound.
Black Capped Chickadee: This tiny, plump-bodied, big-headed bird is a familiar woodland resident and backyard visitor in the northern U.S. and Canada. Gray overall with light buffy flanks and a contrasting head pattern: black cap, white cheek, and black throat. Short, stubby bill is used for hammering open seeds.
White-breasted Nuthatches are active, agile little birds with an appetite for insects and large, meaty seeds. They get their common name from their habit of jamming large nuts and acorns into tree bark, then whacking them with their sharp bill to “hatch” out the seed from the inside. White-breasted Nuthatches may be small, but their voices are loud, and often their insistent nasal yammering will lead you right to them.
The male Northern Cardinal is perhaps responsible for getting more people to open up a field guide than any other bird. They’re a perfect combination of familiarity, conspicuousness, and style: a shade of red you can’t take your eyes off. Even the brown females sport a sharp crest and warm red accents. Cardinals don’t migrate and they don’t molt into a dull plumage, so they’re still breathtaking in winter’s snowy backyards. In
summer, their sweet whistles are one of the first sounds of the morning.
Located near the parking lot and to the left of the Curry Building.
The Daylily Garden
Did you know that the largest public daylily collection in Rochester, with 200 cultivars, can be found at The Webster Arboretum. This garden is maintained by Finger Lakes Daylily Society. The club first formed a display garden at the Webster Arboretum in 1999. Five years later, in 2004, it became an official AHS Display Garden, with approximately 165 dips tets growing at that time. Today it holds approximately 240 daylily cultivars, with new cultivars being added every year.
The daylilies botanical name, Hemerocallis, comes from the Greek hemera (“day”)and kallos (“beauty”). The name is appropriate since each flower lasts only one day! However, each scape has 12 to 15 buds on it, and a mature plant can have 4 to 6 scapes, which is why the flower seems to bloom continuously. Daylily's are hardy perennials with trumpet-shaped flowers in various colors that bloom prolifically in July.