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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Paige Levan's life is currently all about striking a balance. Working toward her Psychology degree at Temple Ambler while also working full-time makes it a requirement."I will admit it, I'm a procrastinator, but you cannot procrastinate when you work full-time and go to school. Every single Monday I sit down with my agenda book and I write out for each class what exactly I'm going to tackle which day," said Levan, 26, who only has a few credits of her junior year left before she is a senior. "I usually leave myself one day so if I don't get everything I need to get done on the...
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...
By Kathy SalisburyDirector, Ambler Arboretum of Temple UniversityMonkey Brains in the Arboretum!Not really, but kind of. "Monkey Brains" is one of the common names for the lumpy, bumpy lime green fruit of the Osage Orange tree. Each fall we look forward to these enormous fruits, which are about the size of a grapefruit, falling to the ground so we can marvel at their weirdness. The Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) is an ecological anachronism (something out of time and place) meaning that the fauna that would eat these giant fruits moving around their native region and planting...
Some people are dog people. Others are cat people. Still others have a marvelous menagerie of furry, feathery and scaly friends. Sarah Naughton, a Certified Investigator Trainer at Temple University Harrisburg, took a decidedly different path. Her passion is arachnids and insects. Here first eight-legged pet? A rose-haired tarantula (Grammostola porteri) named Doris, who is still with her today, along with more than 80 other friends! Read about Sarah and her pets here.
Here is Sarah Naughton's story in her own words.
"Hi! I'm Sarah, and my hobby is keeping...
By Kathy Salisbury
Director, Ambler Arboretum of Temple University
Did you know there is National Moth Week! Moths range in size from smaller than your pinky nail like tube moths and fairy moths to the large sphinx and silkworm moths like the Waved Sphinx (gray above) and the Polyphemus (brown below). Both of these were found on the Arboretum grounds last summer.
I am a self-described moth-er, often setting up a deck chair and an adult beverage to observe who visits her porch light on summer nights. I can be found into the wee hours of the morning investigating...
By Kathy Salisbury
Director, Ambler Arboretum of Temple University
What's in a name? Perhaps as you have been exploring the natural areas around you and learning the names of plants you have encountered some strange names.
All plants have a scientific name. This is the name written in italics and it is the same all over the world. There is only one plant with this scientific name. Plants also have common names. These are names given to the plants regionally by the people who use the plant or grow the plant. While the scientific names of plants can be interesting in...
By Kathy Salisbury
Director, Ambler Arboretum of Temple University
If you happen to take a walk into damp shaded woods, perhaps next to a creek or stream or along a boardwalk, you may encounter Skunk Cabbages (Symplocarpus foetidus). The skunk cabbage are nearly past flowering by this point, but you may still see remnants of their pointy mottled maroon flowers right at the ground level. Rising up in shiny spring green newness are the large bold leaves of this native perennial. In my opinion there is not a plant more fascinating than the skunk cabbage. Here's why:
They...
By Kathy Salisbury
Director, Ambler Arboretum of Temple University
The Mugo Pine (Pinus mugo) in front of the Hilda Justice Building is nearly defoliated. For the second September in two years, this plant is looking quite dead. The needles have been devoured leaving just brown bumpy twigs.
If you look closely, not everything is brown. Clustered at the ends of the branches are black and green "caterpillars" with russet heads.
These creatures are the larvae of the Redheaded Pine Sawfly. Sawfly, not moth or butterfly, this means these are not actually caterpillars...
Camp In. Camp Out. Camp On.
Temple Ambler EarthFest and Ambler Arboretum Present:
The Great American Campout 2020
Welcome to the Adventure!
Temple University Ambler EarthFest Presents and the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University are excited to provide essential information about camping, hiking and exploring nature for new and experienced campers alike. Rather than a day or a weekend, through these webpages, we're going to be celebrating the Great American Campout all summer and fall!
The National Wildlife Federation's Great American...
By Kathy SalisburyDirector, Ambler Arboretum of Temple UniversityThose of you have participated in one of my walks and talks or attended any program about native trees (especially our early March More than Maples: Tapping for Sap - which was the last face-to-face public program we had - feels like eons ago doesn't it?) or have just happened to walk past trees with me, you likely know I have a passion for Black Walnut Trees. Juglans nigra, Black Walnut, are native trees to our eastern deciduous forest ecosystem. Many people know then their bad reputation of not letting other...
By Kathy SalisburyDirector, Ambler Arboretum of Temple UniversityWhat are those things on the leaves? This time of year as you continue your nature walks around the neighborhood or start venturing into local parks, you may notice weird growths on the leaves of plants. They may look kind of alien or gross to you but they are really fascinating. These growths are called galls. Galls are abnormal cell growth. While we mostly see them on leaves or stems when we are exploring, they can also form on roots and even flowers. These lumps and bumps are caused by irritation to the plant's...
By Kathy SalisburyDirector, Ambler ArboretumThe Ambler Arboretum of Temple University is a teaching landscape. That means we have the luxury of experimentation. We have been doing some experimentation with mulches over the last couple of seasons. We have been using what we have around campus in great supply as mulches to see if they work to suppress weeds, hold soil, maintain moisture and are aesthetically pleasing with good results. Over the winter, we used white pine cones and Sweetgum balls and this spring we have introduced a new mulching material — wool! Curatorial...
