Wellesley College Botanic Gardens features 22 acres of curated outdoor gardens, greenhouses, and natural areas nestled within the beautiful and historic Wellesley College campus.
 

The Wellesley College Botanic Gardens (WCBG) include thousands of plants representing over 1,500 different taxa from more than 150 different plant families, growing in diverse habitats and communities. The WCBG foster our instinctive affinity for plants, nature, and harmonious landscapes, and support a ecology-based understanding and appreciation.  This focus on plants and landscapes contributes to increasing knowledge and opportunities for teaching and research at the College, and develops our empathy and care for plants and the natural world.

One fundamental role of plants in nature and culture is as food.  Plants are chosen in part based on a plant’s food value for native birds, insects, and other animals, and the gardens are maintained with minimal disruption of ecological interactions among native species.

Follow the links below to learn about our garden highlights.

 

 

Outdoor Gardens

The Alexandra Botanic Garden has specimen trees and shrubs from around the world in a picturesque landscape. The Silver Thread brook winds through the garden from a waterfall to Paramecium Pond.

The H. H. Hunnewell Arboretum has several different habitats, including a maple swamp, meadow, and fragments of different forest types, with primarily native species. Specialized gardens include a bog garden, a dwarf conifer garden, a pollinator garden, and our Edible Ecosystem Teaching Garden!

Greenhouses

The Margaret C. Ferguson Greenhouses brings Margaret Ferguson's vision of “laboratories under glass” into the 21st century. The Global Flora conservatory highlights beauty and diversity in plant form, and our global connections with plants across cultures. Global Flora also serves as a new node for interdisciplinary learning and an innovative example of sustainable design, with live-streaming climate sensors, rain-fed irrigation, and reduced heat consumption.

The Teaching and Research Greenhouses are connected to the Science Center and recently launched Frost Center for the Environment. These facilities will support student and faculty research, teaching, and other programs.

Additionally, the small Annex greenhouse, built in 1906, has been restored and is a community plant swap and potting area.
 

Visitor Center

WCBG visitor center

The Wellesley College Botanic Gardens' Visitor Center is a reception area for visitors, a gathering space for tour groups, and classroom space for campus and public programs. The Friends of Botanic Gardens office is located here. The large meeting room is named for Harriet B. Creighton, Professor of Botany from 1940-1974. The Visitor Center was built in 1992 through generous donations from Wellesley alumnae and the Friends of Horticulture, as the organization was then known. The structure's design closely mimics the design of the old Ferguson Greenhouses. Visitors can find educational materials, maps, and ask for guidance from student, staff, or volunteers at the front desk during Visitor Center open hours.

 

Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that Wellesley College is built on ancestral and traditional land of the Massachusett people. We also recognize that the United States’ removal, termination, and assimilation policies and practices resulted in the forced settlement of Indigenous lands and the attempted erasure of Indigenous cultures and languages. We further acknowledge the oppression, injustices, and discrimination that Indigenous people have endured and that there is much work to be done on the important journey to reconciliation. We commit to strengthen our understanding of the history and contemporary lives of Indigenous peoples and to steward this land. 

We further recognize the many Indigenous people living here today—including the Massachusett, Wampanoag, and Nipmuc nations—who have rich ancestral histories in Wellesley and its surrounding communities. Today, their descendants remind us that they are still here, where they maintain a vital and visible presence. We honor and respect the enduring relationship between these peoples and this land, as well as the strength of Indigenous culture and knowledge, the continued existence of tribal sovereignty, and the principle of tribal self-determination.

We thank the Native American Student Association at Wellesley College for their work in developing this land acknowledgement, and we are committed to supporting continued action and advocacy.