John J. Tyler Arboretum
Tyler Arboretum is a nonprofit arboretum located at 515 Painter Road, Middletown Township, [Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Middletown Township], Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The arboretum is open daily except for major holidays and an admission fee is charged to non-members.
History
The property's history began in 1681, when William Penn signed a "lease and release" agreement with Thomas Minshall, an English Quaker, for property in Pennsylvania that contained the site now occupied by the arboretum. Between 1681 and 1944, the property was home to eight generations of the same family. The arboretum itself started in 1825 when two brothers, Jacob and Minshall Painter, set aside land to systematically plant more than 1,000 varieties of trees and shrubs.In 1944, descendant Laura Tyler bequeathed the property, in memorial to her husband John J. Tyler, to be a nonprofit arboretum.The location was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. Today, Tyler Arboretum attracts 70,000 visitors a year to its 650-acre campus and boasts 17 miles of pathways and hiking trails.
Collections
The horticultural collections include the following major features:- The original Painter Trees: 1. Lebanon Cedar, a Pennsylvania state champion; 2. Ginkgo ; 3. Yulan Magnolia, a Pennsylvania state champion; 4. Sugar Maple ; 5. Red Maple 6. Osage-orange, blown down by a hurricane in 1954, just the rot-resistant trunk remains; 7. Cucumbertree Magnolia ; 8. Baldcypress ; 9. Leatherleaf Mahonia ; 10. Tuliptree ; 11. Yellow Buckeye ; 12. River Birches - 2 ; 13. Giant Sequoia, the largest giant sequoia in Pennsylvania and possibly in the eastern United States; 14. White Oaks -2 ; 15. Swamp White Oak ; 16. Sweetgums - 2 ; 17. Corsican Pine ; 18. Bald Cypress ; 19. American Linden ; 20. Common Pear ; and 21. Oriental Spruce, a Pennsylvania state champion.
- Ornamentals: collections of flowering cherry ; magnolia ; crabapple ; rhododendron ; holly; and lilac.
- Pinetum, containing pines, spruces, hemlocks, firs, cedars, cypresses and larches.
- Native Woodland Walk.
- Meadow Maze, a recent four-ring labyrinth of meadow grasses based on a classical seven-ringed design.
- Pink Hill, a serpentine barren of serpentine stone with wildflowers.
- Uncultivated land that remain natural and contain 32 km / 17 miles of marked hiking trails.
- Wister Rhododendron Collection, a collection of more than 500 rhododendrons.