The Tame, the Wild, and the Future

At the far parking lot pick up a map in the kiosk, then begin a tour of the gardens - tame and wild. Head up Azalea Road on a gravel path. Fiddleheads, skunk cabbage and its growing partner, false hellebore, emerge under white oak and shagbark hickory woods with an understory of rhododendron and azalea. Take a detour through the blooming shrubs via a woodland grass path dotted with purple violets and white violets with blue centers.

Go back to the lot and take the Cemetery Trail. An old stone wall appears on the left under plenty of American beech, mature and regenerating with coppery buds, and a viburnum understory. On the right, Potter's Field where the indigent of Stamford were buried from 1870-1970 is enclosed by a stone wall. Since the 1990s, a group of interested volunteers have been uncovering grave markers - small concrete blocks marked with numbers - and studying the history and identification of those buried here.

The original 64-acre arboretum was dendrologist Dr. Francis Bartlett's private home. Here, Dr. Bartlett founded Bartlett's Tree Expert Company, experimented on grafting, and hybridized the first blight-free chestnut, the Bartlett chestnut. In 1965 the land was purchased by the state and managed by the University of Connecticut. In 2001, the City of Stamford took title and responsibility for its management was placed in the caring hands of the Bartlett Arboretum Association.

Back to the parking lot, head toward the Visitor Center, but first take a right to see the Mehlquist Garden named after rhododendron hybridizer Gus Mehlquist. The Association is trying to restore this garden with rare specimens among its 100 varieties.