Area rare plant lovers had an opportunity to see (and smell) something extraordinary when two members of the species Amorphophallus titanum, also known as a corpse flower, bloomed right at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture's Greenhouse Education and Research Complex, located at Temple University Ambler, in May.The corpse flower live stream on our YouTube channel has ended, but you can view the live stream archive here. Please note: The Tyler School of Art and Architecture's Greenhouse Education and Research Complex is not open to the public. Final in-person viewing took...
By Kathy SalisburyDirector, Ambler ArboretumDuring a recent weekend, Ambler Arboretum volunteers participated in a Garlic Mustard Weed and Eat. Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is an invasive plant, meaning that it causes ecological harm by outcompeting native plants and changing the ecosystem it invades. In this case, Garlic Mustard can actually change the soil, making it inhospitable for native plants and it releases natural growth-regulating chemicals to stop plants around it from competing. While this plant has evolved with natural checks and balances where it is native...
Years of dedication to her craft have gained Abigail Long national recognition by the Landscape Architecture Foundation.Long, who recently graduated from the Temple University Tyler School of Art and Architecture's Landscape Architecture program, was named the undergraduate 2021 National Olmsted Scholar. As the undergraduate scholar in this highly competitive program, she also received a $15,000 prize."I am ecstatic! Being selected as the National Olmsted Scholar is a tremendous honor. I know how competitive the program is, and to say I was shocked to learn this great news is...
If you happen to ask Dr. Laura Toran "how's the weather" she'll be able to tell you in minute detail. Her wireless weather station in the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University provides detailed, real-time reports on temperature, humidity, wind, sunlight, dew point and more. "Temple Ambler is perfectly situated as a central point between several watersheds, making it a great location for the study of urban hydrology," said Toran, Professor of Earth and Environmental Science in Temple's College of Science and Technology. "The weather station on campus serves a number of purposes...
Since early 2020, an aging metal hulk has sat lifeless and dormant on a mile-long stretch of coastline where the Schuylkill transitions to the Delaware River in Southwest Philadelphia.In 2019, an accident at the 1,300-acre Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery — the largest refinery on the East Coast at the time — set off a series of explosions that released more than 5,000 pounds of hydrogen fluoride, a deadly gas, and sent pieces of shrapnel weighing more than 19 tons raining down on the site.While the site has been purchased by a new developer with the likely...
By Cat MeholicCuratorial Horticulturist, Ambler Arboretum of Temple UniversityOne of the main differences between a public garden and a public park is the existence of a documented plant collection to support the mission of the garden. Superficially, some public parks look like gardens and some public gardens have a park-like aesthetic. But, behind every public garden are plant records that capture the history of individual plants.What is done with these records is entirely dependent on the mission of the organization. Here at the Ambler Arboretum, our records are used to...
Daniel Boyce is a firm believer in the importance of the nation's park system. He has dedicated his life and career to protecting them and the people that visit these cherished locations year after year."The importance of national parks lies in the sites themselves. They are icons, they are historical, foundational pieces of the country and these locations are completely irreplaceable," said Boyce, a Temple University Criminal Justice graduating senior who is also completing the ProRanger Philadelphia program, a partnership between Temple University and the National Park...
Landscape Architecture senior Abigail Long isn't someone who's not willing to get her hands dirty. She's not one to just wait around for something to come to her either."I want the hands-on experience. For me personally, I think that's how I learn the best — diving in there and figuring out how to do it," said Long, 30, a transfer student who returned to the classroom in 2015 after working several years in the restaurant industry. "You can be told how to do something, but it's not really until you're in a situation where you need to grapple with it that you fully...
Temple University graduating senior Darnell Kevin Thomas, Jr., is interested in exploring areas of the mind that few would want to dwell on, all in the name of making the world safer and more equitable."I started my college career as a psychology major, but I found myself more interested in the criminal aspect of psychology, like abnormal psychology. I find the way criminals think fascinating. What is it that makes a serial killer do the horrific things that they do — how can we learn more to prevent those things from happening in the future?" said Thomas, 26, who is...
Alexandra Carr is a Temple Owl through and through. In fact, she comes from a whole nest of Owls!Her brother, Peter Carr, is finishing up his Business Management degree at Temple's Main Campus. Her aunt, Jennifer (Sheuring) McQuarrie has a degree from Temple in Business Management. Her mom, Anne (Sheuring) Carr, completed her degree in Business Management and a Master's in General and Strategic Management, both at Temple. She happened to go to Temple Ambler, "so she's a huge fan of the campus," Carr said.If you haven't sensed a trend, you're not paying attention. All of her...
Don't be surprised if you recognize Kayla Kristine McKay. In her four years at Temple University, McKay has become an essential part of the University community and one of the strongest student advocates for Temple University Ambler."Temple's spirit is what drew me to the University in the first place — I knew I wanted to be a part of this community inside and outside the classroom. There were student organizations, club fairs, activities all over both campuses and that's what brought Temple to life for me," said McKay who is graduating from Temple's Tyler School of Art...
Graduating Horticulture senior Amirah Mitchell knows that the importance of seeds goes well beyond their inherent capacity for new growth. Her passion is preserving the rich history that goes along with those seeds."I've been really interested in focusing my agricultural career specifically on seeds — seed farming, seed growing and propagation — and that drew me to seedkeeping, which is different than seed saving," said Mitchell, 28, who will complete her Horticulture degree from Temple University's Tyler School of Art and Architecture this semester. "Seed saving is...
The average person will spend 90,000 hours at work during their lifetime. That's about 30 percent of their entire lives. How someone feels about their job can certainly have a huge bearing on their quality of life.Temple University Psychology graduating senior Tara Tysak realized early on the potential impacts that work experiences have on people, both positive and negative. She's made it her goal to help individuals "live a better work life." That goal "and generally wanting to understand human behavior as best I can" is what drew her to "Industrial Psychology," she said. "...
Mary Cortese, a PhD candidate in Biology at Temple University and Research Assistant with the Temple Ambler Field Station and Freestone Lab, is not afraid to dive right into her interests. In fact, she prefers it.You're as likely to find her below the water as above it, all in the service of leaving the planet a better place than she found it and educating others on the importance of doing the same."As a research assistant, I am very excited about being involved in a lot of community engagement and community outreach. I think back on to my childhood and the opportunities I had...
Mariana Bonfim, a PhD candidate in Biology at Temple University and Research Assistant with the recently established Temple Ambler Field Station, has been thinking a lot lately about relationships. But not in the way you might think."Nature has a lot of different patterns, but why is an organism exactly the way it is? Why do sea anemones, for example, attach to hermit crabs? What is that relationship bringing to each of them?" asked Bonfim, 29, who arrived at Temple and Field Station Director Dr. Amy Freestone's Freestone Lab in 2015 having already amassed years of diverse...
For young people, finding your "voice" is an essential part of the long journey into adulthood. For Savannah Shepherd, she found her voice while shining a bright spotlight on a dark part of the history of this country, the story of a man brutally lost to racial terror."It all started for me on a trip to Montgomery, Alabama, to visit The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which was opened by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI)," said Shepherd. "My whole family went down there for the opening of those two incredible places. It was there that I actually...
Abra Lee, owner of Conquer the Soil, has been digging in the dirt for as long as she can remember. Horticulture is integrally part of her family, her culture, her history. "What drew me to horticulture was a combination of things. It was me growing up in Atlanta and going down to the country on the weekends to Barnesville, GA, where my mama's from, dirt road country which is an hour south of Atlanta," said Lee, a national speaker and writer with decades of experience in the green industry. "Her family had a farm there so I was always around agriculture. Growing up in the city...
Antarctica. Madagascar. Panama. Alaska. Comoros. Belize.This isn't a travelogue. They are just some of the places that Dr. Amy Freestone's research has taken her in her continued study of how species interact with each other and their environment."My research explores how local-scale ecological processes, such as species interactions, vary predictably across global gradients, particularly latitude. From the poles to the tropics, biodiversity, environmental conditions, and evolutionary history change substantially, and these changes can influence the way our natural communities...
Temple University Ambler has more than a century of teaching and researching sustainable practices and building important connections to the natural world as both a campus of Temple and as its forerunner, the historically significant Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women.Today researchers from a variety of disciplines currently conduct research at the Ambler Campus in everything from urban hydrology and stormwater management to ecology and seismology. Now researchers from Temple and well beyond have a new home and access to a broad range of natural resources and...
Landscape Architecture senior Abigail Long isn't someone who's not willing to get her hands dirty. She's not one to just wait around for something to come to her either."I want the hands-on experience. For me personally, I think that's how I learn the best — diving in there and figuring out how to do it," said Long, 30, a transfer student who returned to the classroom in 2015 after working several years in the restaurant industry. "You can be told how to do something, but it's not really until you're in a situation where you need to grapple with it that you fully...
