This interdisciplinary course looks at public gardens as a whole, studying these public institutions and their performance in the four major services they undertake: research, horticultural display, conservation and education/outreach. Students, of any level or discipline, begin the course by learning what arboreta and botanic gardens are, how they function, and what role they fill in our society through a series of lecture sessions at the Morris Arboretum. For the remainder of the semester, the students take that knowledge into the field to apply what they have learned and evaluate some of the many public gardens in "America's Garden Capital," the Philadelphia region, with expert instructors from the Morris Arboretum as guides. Course assessment will be based on one exam, and a series of essays pertaining to their garden evaluations. Garden evaluations and the written work can be tailored to a particular subject of interest to a student, if pertinent within the public garden realm.
Please note that this course takes place at the Morris Arboretum in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia and students are responsible for transporting themselves to and from the arboretum on their own or to other Philadelphia area public gardens as required for class each week. For further information about the course, students may contact Cynthia Skema (cskema@upenn.edu).
Refer to Penn Course Search for the official roster and details of courses offered in a particular term.
