Let me tell you a story, from a decade ago, about the first Monterey cypress I ever came to know… She lives on Bodega Head, nestled a hundred paces away from the sandstone cliff edge and the crashing Pacific surf just beyond.  I cannot recall my first instance of seeing her from afar, nor that …
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By Cypress Lawn Arboretum Director Josh Gevertz I know this feeling of being a child, one of my first waking memories.  Running circle after circle on the lawn of my new family home around a ring of ivy. Three silver birches, Betula pendula, emergent from the center of the round as a harmonious triumvirate of brilliant …
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A Photo Blog Series Showcasing the Diversity of Global Plantings of the Monterey Cypress By Cypress Lawn Arboretum Director Josh Gevertz Hesperocyparis macrocarpa, in its wisened maturity past a century in age, may grow to become a true natural spectacle, a wooden behemoth that lives at a physical and temporal scale far beyond the human. To …
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By Cypress Lawn Arboretum Director Josh Gevertz Hello, friends! Recent months have been full of growth and change here at Cypress Lawn Arboretum. This short feature documentary film seeks to share with you — our cherished tree-loving community — just a few of the many projects that we have been working on. From giving care and …
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By Cypress Lawn Arboretum Director Josh Gevertz Cypress Lawn Arboretum has grown through the generations from a vision seeded by our founder, Hamden Holmes Noble, who brought the idea of the rural “garden cemetery” to the California coast in the final decade of the 19th century. Although Mr. Noble did not think of himself as …
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A Photo Blog Series Showcasing the Diversity of Global Plantings of the Monterey Cypress By Cypress Lawn Arboretum Director Josh Gevertz The Monterey cypress (Hesperocyparis macrocarpa), our namesake species at Cypress Lawn Arboretum, is a coastal Californian tree with a unique natural — and cultural — history. While truly native only to a small pocket …
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A Photo Blog Series Showcasing the Diversity of Global Plantings of the Monterey Cypress On Cypress Lawn’s first Arboretum Day, November 18, 2020, we will embrace the singular healing act of planting trees. We do so as a memorial, as a living tribute to the many souls that have been lost in the ongoing global …
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Dearest friends, neighbors, and tree-lovers near and far — It is my honor to extend to you a cordial virtual invitation to the first annual Arboretum Day here at Cypress Lawn Arboretum & Botanical Gardens on Nov. 18, 2020.  As a celebration of life befitting the lasting legacy of our Memorial Park, where trees have …
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Hello all! We here at the Cypress Lawn Arboretum would like to cordially invite you to experience our new virtual Tree Tour of our living collection, featuring several of the grandest and oldest tree specimens growing today at Cypress Lawn. Click here to explore this virtual experience for yourself! Start the Tree Tour Here With …
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By Cypress Lawn Arboretum Director Josh Gevertz A headstone of polished granite — ornate, intricately detailed, and artfully inscribed — stands to commemorate a life gone by. Stone is a stoic thing; as eternal tributes to beloved people, we intend for our mausoleums, statuary, and monuments to remain immutable, as sacrosanct vessels of cherished memories. …
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