The Experience
Enjoy the campus ambience that permeates this rich landscape of beautifully tended woodlands and sun-drenched gardens. Pick up a self-guided tour pamphlet at the arboretum office and visit the Terry Shane Teaching Garden behind the building. Any one of the meandering paths will lead you to the Dean Bond Rose Garden, the Theresa Lang Fragrance Garden and the many mixed borders along the campus buildings.
Take special note of the planted containers in charming courtyards and the many collections that dot the campus, including hollies, crabapples, magnolias, viburnums, rhododendrons, tree peonies and native azaleas. In the outdoor amphitheater, towering tulip trees preside over summer concerts and annual graduation ceremonies.
History
The vision of Arthur Hoyt Scott, Swarthmore College class of 1895, inspires the arboretum that was established in his honor in 1929. Scott, an avid gardener and president of Scott Paper Company, believed that gardening could significantly improve the quality of life in an industrial society. Fittingly, at the arboretum, people of average means could see and be inspired by plants.