Morris Arboretum
A 92-acre garden in Chestnut Hill offers an ever-changing landscape of colorful gardens, fountains, secret places to explore. Its nationally award-winning exhibit, Out on a Limb takes visitors 50 feet up into the treetops on a canopy walk that requires no climbing. A seasonal Garden Railway exhibit features model trains on a quarter-mile track outdoors in the garden in summer and during the holidays.
History
Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania began in 1887 as Compton, the summer home of John and Lydia Morris, brother and sister. The I.P. Morris Company, an iron-manufacturing firm founded by their father and later run by John Morris, was a source of family wealth.
The land the Morrises purchased in Chestnut Hill was barren, with poor soil that drained too quickly; but with diligent care they surrounded their home with a landscape and plant collection devoted to beauty and knowledge. Two Lines a sculpture by George Rickey marks the former mansion site. The Widener Visitor Center was formerly the carriage house.
Vision for the Future
As an irreplaceable public garden, the Morris Arboretum provides a place of respite, beauty and learning where the joy and wonder of the natural world inspire all who visit to be enthusiastic ambassadors for plants and our fundamental dependence on them.
A vital part of one of the great research universities in the world, the Morris Arboretum is renowned for its science aimed at understanding and conserving plants and ecosystems.
Sustainability at Morris Arboretum
When the University of Pennsylvania launched its Climate Action Plan 2.0 in the fall of 2014, it increased its geographic footprint from the core academic campus, to more fully reflect the full range of the University’s built assets, including the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, the Morris Arboretum, the New Bolton Center, and Penn’s leased space and real estate projects.
As part of the Climate Action Plan 2.0, Morris Arboretum is documenting the current state of its environmental sustainability efforts to institutionalize best practices and build upon past successes, including landscape management, horticulture, the construction and operation of a LEED Platinum building, academic programs and community outreach and engagement.
Morris Arboretum is committed to sustaining our natural resources. The 167-acre Arboretum property is a collection of landscape demonstrations exhibiting stewardship of different kinds of landscapes found throughout the metropolitan area.
