Tree Mob takes over Arnold Arboretum
Tucked away from the rush-hour gridlock on the Jamaicaway, a Massachusetts General Hospital radiologist was one of about 40 people huddled with an Arnold Arboretum researcher showing how the flowering Stewartia trees vary by bloom and bark. On a day off, Jack Wittenberg briefly joined the “Tree Mob” with senior research scientist Peter Del Tredici at the Stewartia collection, which dates from 1918. Wittenberg, a fan of Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum since the years when his mother convalesced nearby, didn’t have to sign up in advance or make a big time commitment. “I come to interesting things here and you know with Peter it’s the final word,’’ he said. Amy Galblum said she decided to swing by the 5:30 p.m. gathering en route from her job in Brookline to her home in Roslindale. “I bike through here, and I didn’t realize there were so many Stewartias and that they are so varied.” Many botanical gardens...