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March 24, 2025
30% of Beech Trees Killed by Beech Leaf Disease, New Study Shows
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
Long-term data reveal 30% mortality and alarming growth slowdown in the native beech trees in northeastern Ohio, near the epicenter of beech leaf disease. KIRTLAND, OH — A decade after... more
March 5, 2025
How Nonnative Plants Respond to Climate Change: Holden Arboretum Researchers Report
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
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... more
February 24, 2025
The Power of Plant Records: How Tracking Plants Helps Save Species
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
If a plant has ever died in your care, you’re in good company. It turns out that even in the world’s botanical gardens, managed by full-time professionals, plants don’t live... more
January 16, 2025
Seedling Scramble: How Warming Changes Plant Communities
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
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... more
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... more
November 21, 2023
Every flower hosts a diverse community of pollen grains (from the wrong species)
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
New research sheds light on the factors that shape the diverse microscopic pollen collections deposited on flowers by pollinators. more
November 8, 2023
Holden Researchers Uncover How a Resilient Tree Acclimates to Stressful Environments
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
The eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is a hardy tree native to the eastern U.S. But lately it’s been encroaching on ecosystems out West — could its physiology be the... more
November 2, 2023
New Study Reveals Overlooked Driver of Biodiversity Across Landscapes: Conditions During Plant Establishment
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
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. more
October 24, 2023
New Research Reveals How the Environment and Genetics Influence Plant Microbiomes, Offering Insights for Climate Resilience
By Anna Funk, PhD, Science Communications Specialist
The more researchers investigate the microscopic word, the more microbes have been found living in and on other organisms — including plants. These microbes aren’t just hitching a ride; they’ve... more
October 13, 2023
Enlisting Fungi to Help Bring Trees Back to Our Cities
Mushroom Month might be over, but we aren’t done celebrating mushrooms just yet because October 15th is National Mushroom Day! If you’ve been keeping up with our blog posts for... more
September 15, 2023
Restoring Wildflowers to the Forests: Insights from a Soil Fungi Experiment
I’d found myself kneeling in the leaf litter, surrounded by forest, my fingers carefully arranging a leaflet of the small plant before me, my other hand adjusting a ruler to... more
September 8, 2023
How to Identify Mushrooms and Other Fungi
By Claudia Bashian-Victoroff, MS, Research Specialist
Let's distinguish what makes a mushroom different from other fungi, and learn to identify them. more
September 1, 2023
Appreciate the Life Beneath Your Feet This Fall: National Mushroom Month
By David J. Burke, PhD, Vice President for Science and Conservation
If you’ve had a chance to spend time outdoors this week, you can feel late summer sliding into northern Ohio. The air feels a bit heavier, and a bit cooler... more
August 21, 2023
Holden Researchers Explore an Underappreciated Way Warmer Temperatures Will Impact Ecosystems: Decomposition
By Anna Funk, Science Communication Specialist
In a new study, researchers at the Holden Arboretum improve our understanding of a mechanism for how climate change will impact natural ecosystems. more
August 17, 2023
Attending the Ecological Society of America (ESA) Annual Conference
HF&G’s current Norweb Fellow, Lydia Jahn, attended the Ecological Society of America (ESA) annual conference this month and presented our research on spring wildflowers in Stebbins Gulch at a poster... more
June 20, 2023
Holden Forests & Gardens Receives the 2023 Program Excellence Award from The American Public Gardens Association
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Holden Forests & Gardens Receives the Program Excellence Award from the American Public Gardens Association Working Woods Learning Forest™ Teaches Public and Private Landowners How to Care... more
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... more
April 7, 2023
A Day in Bole Woods with Holden Researchers
By Claudia Bashian-Victoroff, MS, Research Specialist
The Soil Ecology Lab here at the Holden Arboretum is all about collaboration! This week members of our lab spent a day in Bole Woods to do site maintenance for... more
March 24, 2023
The Challenges of Rhododendron Research
Rhododendrons are loved by many gardeners for their bright, kaleidoscopic spring flowers. They are special for many reasons, including rhododendron being one of the most species-rich genus of woody flowering... more
January 6, 2023
From horticultural hero to cancer cure, what research has your Rhododendron done today?
By Juliana S. Medeiros, PhD, Plant Biologist
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... more
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,... more
December 8, 2022
The Sweet Side of Winter: Carbohydrate Dynamics during Cold Acclimation
By Samuel Harbol, Norweb Fellow Deciduous plants such as maple trees lose their leaves in winter, and this helps them to survive cold temperatures, but what about our evergreen friends,... more
December 2, 2022
Why We’re Celebrating Soil for World Soil Day — And You Should Too!
By Anna Funk, Ph.D., Science Communication Specialist
We’re surrounded by soils. They’re not just outside, but underneath us, supporting our structures and our homes as well as our ecosystems and food systems. But perhaps the most amazing... more
November 18, 2022
Where do we stand today?
By Hector Ortiz
By Hector Ortiz There was a time in North America when people saw plants and land as sacred, a gift from the Gods. The use and cultivation of some of... more
November 10, 2022
New Graduate Student in the Medeiros Lab: Miranda Shetzer
I recently began a PhD program where I am hosted jointly by Case Western Reserve University and the Holden Arboretum. The BioScience Alliance program promotes collaboration across research facilities in... more
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