Hands-on Botany

All real botany is a hands-on experience. I wish we all had more time to get out in the field and see, hear, touch, smell, and taste the wonders of the Plant Kingdom. For my students at the Boston Architectural College getting out into nature is a real luxury. For their degrees in design, architecture, and landscape architecture, these fine folks are required to work during the day and take classes at night. How many times have my students dragged themselves in to class at 5 PM when the rest of the world is kicking back with something red?

So I was super pleased that the weather last Sunday was picture perfect for our field trip to Mount Auburn Cemetery, a national historic site and the nation's first landscaped cemetery, right here in Cambridge. The flowers were luxuriating in the gentle spring sun, leaves unfurling, buds ripening, and hawks soaring overhead.

All this without the usual pesky insects of summer, so in a sense, we had it all.

I've written on these pages before about my BAC students but let me just say it again. The way these people approach learning, observing the world, and thinking critically about nature and design, is a true inspiration to me!