On Sunday, April 7, Andew Bunting, curator of the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College and president of the Magnolia Society International, will speak at 1:30 p.m. at the Linwood Arboretum in Linwood, NJ. His topic is “Magnolias for the Home Garden.” The presentation will be given in the Cafetorium of Belhaven Middle School, directly across from the Arboretum, at the intersection of Wabash and Belhaven avenues.

The Linwood Arboretum, founded in 2009 on the abandoned brownfields site of a former electrical substation is one of the newest public gardens in America and, at roughly one acre, also one of the smallest. But for its size, it contains respectable collections of several genera, including Magnolia, Cercis, and Hamamelis. Embodying many of the ideas espoused by the late J. C. Raulston, founder of the arboretum in Raleigh now named in his memory, the Linwood Arboretum emphasizes uncommon woody plants especially suited to suburban home landscaping.

Allen Lacy, curator of the Linwood Arboretum, is delighted that Mr. Bunting will initiate the garden year in Linwood. “He is the ideal speaker, for us,” Lacy says, “Not only is he curator of one of the most imaginative arboretums in America, but he has been a supporter of our public garden in Linwood from the very start. He was an observer at our inauguration in 2010, and he is a current member of the Friends of the Linwood Arboretum.”

Bunting’s lecture is free to the public. For further information, contact Allen Lacy at dalthird@mac.com