Bulletin of Remarkable Trees Vol. 2 No. 1
Welcome to a new year! (and a new volume of Bulletin of Remarkable Trees)
2020 was stressful, arduous, and isolating all around, but hopefully getting a little bit of nature in your inbox each week has helped ease those feelings just a smidge. I’m sending wishes for a connected, motivating, and fulfilling 2021 to each one of you!
To start off this new year of Bulletin of Remarkable Trees, here’s a preview of some topics I’ll be covering in the next few months. I have big plans for this newsletter, and I’m excited you’ve all decided to come along with me on this journey! This will be a short issue, but rest assured I’m working hard behind the scenes to gather interesting tidbits and find unique topics and angles to cover through the coming year.
(A couple of the photos for this week I took at the Morton Arboretum’s winter light show Illumination. It was changed to a drive-thru experience this year because of COVID-19, but I thought they did an excellent job adapting to the new format while still highlighting the beauty of their trees!)
Going through the boxes and boxes of my grandfather’s writing and keepsakes, I’ve been inspired to follow so many different threads related to the Arboretum, trees, and my grandfather’s life.
As I’ve mentioned before, there are dozens of small drawings and sketches in Grandpa Kammerer’s journals, many of which were ideas for centerpieces and plant arrangements. I’ve gathered some interesting examples to share (and I might even try recreating a few of them!)
Somewhat relatedly, I’ve come across a great deal of material from when my grandfather judged and created exhibits for the Chicago Flower and Garden Show (which still takes place every year at Navy Pier downtown). I’m excited to share some of the keepsakes, brochures, and papers I’ve found related to the show and am working on collating information about the displays he and his coworkers created on behalf of the Arboretum. In addition to the Chicago Flower and Garden Show, my grandfather traveled around the country judging flower arranging competitions and shows, and I’m putting together some issues that cover this side-gig of his.
I have a few topics in mind for the coming months related to my grandparents’ personal garden at Riverby, as well as some of the collections and plantings that my grandfather created on the Arboretum grounds (including the hedge garden).
I’ve also been gathering references to noted artist, writer, naturalist, and colleague of my grandfather’s at the Arboretum, May Theilgaard Watts. Among my grandfather’s things, I found numerous copies of a beautifully illustrated map of the Arboretum done by Mrs. Watts, which I’m excited to analyze and share with you. My grandfather also wrote in his journals about Mrs. Watts and projects they worked on together for the Arboretum, and I’m planning to write more about his work with her (as well as his other Arboretum colleagues).
Lastly, next week I’ll be diving into one of the first pieces I happened across while beginning to research my grandfather: Winter Beauty (which he wrote for the Arboretum’s Bulletin of Popular Information in 1936.) I love this piece as an example of my grandpa’s eloquent, flowing prose. January seems like the perfect time to appreciate the winter landscape for all of its leaf-less splendor.
Hopefully, this taste of what’s to come piques your interest in Bulletin of Remarkable Trees for 2021! I cannot thank every one of you enough for taking an interest in this project. I’ve been covering a broad range of topics, but if there are specific things you’d like me to delve into more, please let me know by leaving a comment:
And to everyone who’s shared a link to Bulletin of Remarkable Trees or told a friend about it, an extra thank you! Recommendations and shares are immensely helpful in growing the reach of this newsletter.
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