Cylburn Arboretum
Encyclopedia
Cylburn Arboretum is a city park with arboretum
and gardens, located at 4915 Greenspring Avenue
, Baltimore, Maryland. It is open daily without charge.
The arboretum began as the private estate of businessman Jesse Tyson, who started construction of Cylburn Mansion in 1863. The house, designed by Baltimore City Hall architect George Aloysius Frederick, was eventually completed in 1888 and remains intact, a stone structure built of gneiss
from Tyson's quarries at Bare Hills, Maryland, with mansard roof
, tower, and an Italianate cupola. It became the Cylburn Wildflower Preserve and Garden Center in 1954, and in 1982 was renamed the Cylburn Arboretum Association.
The Cylburn Mansion houses a display of watercolor paintings of Maryland wildflowers that is open to the public.
Today the arboretum contains an extensive collection of trees and woody shrubs based loosely on the Tyson's original plantings. Collections include azalea
s, bamboo
, beech
es, boxwood
s, chestnut
s, conifers, hollies
, Japanese maples, magnolia
s, maple
s, Maryland
oak
s, and viburnum
.
The arboretum also includes a number of flower and vegetable gardens, as well as greenhouse
s designed and built in the 1960s by Lord & Burnham
. The greenhouses grow plants for the city's parks, and are not open to the general public.
Arboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
and gardens, located at 4915 Greenspring Avenue
Greenspring Avenue
Greenspring Avenue is a road in Baltimore, Maryland and its northwestern suburbs. At one time, Greenspring Avenue was Maryland Route 519 from Worthington Road to Dover Road, but the road has since been decommissioned and no longer has any numerical designation....
, Baltimore, Maryland. It is open daily without charge.
The arboretum began as the private estate of businessman Jesse Tyson, who started construction of Cylburn Mansion in 1863. The house, designed by Baltimore City Hall architect George Aloysius Frederick, was eventually completed in 1888 and remains intact, a stone structure built of gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
from Tyson's quarries at Bare Hills, Maryland, with mansard roof
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
, tower, and an Italianate cupola. It became the Cylburn Wildflower Preserve and Garden Center in 1954, and in 1982 was renamed the Cylburn Arboretum Association.
The Cylburn Mansion houses a display of watercolor paintings of Maryland wildflowers that is open to the public.
Today the arboretum contains an extensive collection of trees and woody shrubs based loosely on the Tyson's original plantings. Collections include azalea
Azalea
Azaleas are flowering shrubs comprising two of the eight subgenera of the genus Rhododendron, Pentanthera and Tsutsuji . Azaleas bloom in spring, their flowers often lasting several weeks...
s, bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
, beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
es, boxwood
Buxus
Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood ....
s, chestnut
Chestnut
Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
s, conifers, hollies
Holly
Ilex) is a genus of 400 to 600 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. The species are evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs, and climbers from tropics to temperate zones world wide....
, Japanese maples, magnolia
Magnolia
Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol....
s, maple
Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...
s, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
s, and viburnum
Viburnum
Viburnum is a genus of about 150–175 species of shrubs or small trees in the moschatel family, Adoxaceae. Its current classification is based on molecular phylogeny...
.
The arboretum also includes a number of flower and vegetable gardens, as well as greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
s designed and built in the 1960s by Lord & Burnham
Lord & Burnham
Lord & Burnham was a noted American boiler and greenhouse manufacturers, and builders of major public conservatories in the United States....
. The greenhouses grow plants for the city's parks, and are not open to the general public.