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March 5, 2025
How Nonnative Plants Respond to Climate Change: Holden Arboretum Researchers Report
Scientists agree: Global warming is real, and it’s happening today. Here in northeast Ohio, we can most clearly see the signs during spells of too-warm-too-early weather in the spring or...
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January 16, 2025
Seedling Scramble: How Warming Changes Plant Communities
Kirtland, OH — Our world is warming, and how exactly that will affect our ecosystems is a critical question. As the climate shifts, plants and animals are already responding in...
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January 8, 2025
Holden’s Wildflower Garden Is a Living Laboratory for Climate Change Research—Here’s What Our Researchers Have Learned
Public gardens like the Holden Arboretum and the Cleveland Botanical Garden are great places to visit. But patrons exploring the latest Frost event might miss that behind the scenes, these...
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November 8, 2024
Holden researchers put forest management strategies to the test. Here’s what they found
Private landowners play a critical role in preserving Ohio’s natural heritage where a majority of the state’s eight million acres of forest are privately owned. To manage these forests, land...
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October 23, 2024
The Invasive Threat of Siberian Elm in Ohio
The Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila), originally from northern Asia, was introduced to North America in the mid-1800s for its hardiness and rapid growth. While it was initially valued for these...
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June 7, 2024
Seeking to Understand Disease Resistance in Crabapples
Unseasonably warm spring weather threw a curveball at researchers at the Holden Arboretum, who study the flowering time, pollinators, and microbiomes of crabapple trees. The crabapple plot at the arboretum...
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May 29, 2024
Teaming Up to Find the Pinxterbloom Azalea
While our coworkers celebrated spring at the arboretum, May 1st found Connor and I, as well as Greg Payton Kady Wilson of the Dawes Arboretum, in Shawnee State Forest in...
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May 21, 2024
Saving a Rare Rhododendron Species
Saving the locally extinct, Bog Labrador Tea Rhododendron. What does the future hold for this bog-loving species of native rhododendron?
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January 25, 2024
Garlic Mustard and Its Newly Introduced Aphid
Garlic mustard is an herb covering forest floors across North America. However, it wasn’t always found here. Garlic mustard is an invasive species brought to the United States from Europe...
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December 21, 2023
Duckweed Hits Classrooms Across Cleveland for a Science Lesson
High schoolers across the Cleveland Municipal School District are honing their research skills, thanks to an NSF-funded program at Holden. Authors: Emily Lewis, Cherise Kent, and Na Wei What started...
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November 27, 2023
Holden Collections Team Travels South to Conserve a Rare Oak Species
When we think about plant conservation, things like invasive species removal, habitat restoration, and population monitoring typically come to mind. This is what’s known as in situ (“on site”) conservation–...
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November 21, 2023
Every flower hosts a diverse community of pollen grains (from the wrong species)
New research sheds light on the factors that shape the diverse microscopic pollen collections deposited on flowers by pollinators.
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November 15, 2023
The Hunt for Tiny Biofuel Plants: Duckweed
Duckweeds are the smallest flowering plants on earth. They can take in carbon from the air and convert it into biomass very quickly. In fact, when it comes to sequestering...
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November 10, 2023
Tiny Plant, Big Solutions: Duckweed’s Contentious Reputation and Scientific History
You’ve likely come by a pond, lake, or even a drainage ditch, and noticed a layer of green on the water. It can look solid enough to almost be mistaken...
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November 2, 2023
New Study Reveals Overlooked Driver of Biodiversity Across Landscapes: Conditions During Plant Establishment
In a new study published in Ecology, Holden researcher Katie Stuble and colleagues use restored grassland experiments to demonstrate how planting conditions impact diversity, but only for certain community types.
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October 13, 2023
Nasturtiums, Yum!
Fall colors have arrived, but nasturtiums are putting on one last show before cooler weather moves in. These are a favorite annual flower among gardeners and add vibrant color to...
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August 21, 2023
Holden Researchers Explore an Underappreciated Way Warmer Temperatures Will Impact Ecosystems: Decomposition
In a new study, researchers at the Holden Arboretum improve our understanding of a mechanism for how climate change will impact natural ecosystems.
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June 6, 2023
Effects of Climate Warming on Forest Plants
Spring forest phenology update: community scientists help Holden researchers study the effects of climate warming on forest plants. Each year at the Holden Arboretum, volunteers team up with members of...
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January 6, 2023
From horticultural hero to cancer cure, what research has your Rhododendron done today?
Your Rhododendrons are probably looking a little sad right now, amidst the cold wind and snows of January. They are probably drooping their leaves, maybe they have lost their beautiful...
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December 19, 2022
Great Lakes, Great Trees
The new Great Lakes Basin Forest Health Collaborative is leading the charge to save ash, beech and hemlock trees. Their base is at the Holden Arboretum. Wandering the Holden Arboretum,...
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October 6, 2022
The Much-Maligned Goldenrods
Ahh-choo! It’s the end-of-summer hay fever season once again and people are feeling it. The poor goldenrod is often blamed, so it’s time for me to get on my soapbox...
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July 20, 2022
Hidden Gems of the Forest
If you don’t find me in a garden, chances are I will be off for a hike somewhere in the woods. Botany is the core of who I am, and...
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June 16, 2022
New Eastern Hemlock Conservation Work Kicks Off at Holden
By Rachel Kappler, Great Lakes Basin Forest Health Collaborative (GLB FHC) Coordinator, and Dr. Anna Funk, Science Communication Specialist Researchers across the country are interested in learning more about forest...
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May 26, 2022
Electronic Herbaria Data Applications, a Prelude to Study Eastern Redcedar Encroachment in the US Great Plains and Midwest
Talking about herbarium data is like entering a time machine that transports me back to a small room where I spent hours searching through plant specimens that were collected 100...
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May 20, 2022
The Spring Ephemerals in Stebbins Gulch
For Mother’s Day this year, my 9-year-old daughter filled out a survey about me. One of the questions was “Why is your mom special?” She answered, “Because she knows almost...
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