“Spring in the Orchard” tours

Join Anna and Kyle for special tours of the newly installed native plant plots and other spring happenings in the recently restored historic orchard at the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site in Kinderhook, NY. “Spring in the Orchard” tours depart from the Visitor’s Center on June 7th at 10:15am, 11:15am, 1:15pm, and 2:15pm; sign up the day of the tours at the Visitor’s Center. (Rain date is June 14th).

The tours will highlight the two native wildflower installations–including an experimental seeding of sand-frequenting plants that may have been part of an historic Kinderhook pine barrens–that were guided by the Farmscape Ecology Program and made possible thanks to the receipt of an Ecological Restoration Grant from the Partners for Climate Action. The tour will provide an opportunity to learn how Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program biologists selected the species that were planted, and are collaborating with the staff and orchardist at the site to monitor the ecology of the organically managed orchard over time, including the impact on pollinators and other insects. The tours will also provide an opportunity to learn what historical records tell us about when apple and pear trees were flowering in Kinderhook in the 1830s and 1840s, and how this compares to current observations.