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Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. LAURIE SCHLAGETER
Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. LAURIE SCHLAGETER
Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. LAURIE SCHLAGETER
Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. LAURIE SCHLAGETER
Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. LAURIE SCHLAGETER
Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. LAURIE SCHLAGETER
Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. LAURIE SCHLAGETER
Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. LAURIE SCHLAGETER
Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. LAURIE SCHLAGETER
Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River. LAURIE SCHLAGETER
The next meeting of the Westhampton Garden Club will feature guest speaker Kevin Wiecks, the director of the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River.
During the Monday, November 4, meeting at 1 p.m. at the Quogue Library, Wiecks will give a presentation on the arboretum, which is a state park that was donated by Olivia Peyton Murray Cutting and her daughter, Olivia Bayard James, in memory of the elder Olivia’s husband, William Bayard Cutting. The intent of the donation was “to provide an oasis of beauty and quiet for the pleasure, rest and refreshment of those who delight in outdoor beauty; and to bring about a greater appreciation and understanding of the value and importance of informal planting.”
Arboretum development began in 1887, using plans conceived by the noted landscape architectural firm of Frederick Law Olmsted. The family donated it to the state in 1936.
Wiecks was appointed director of the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in October 2021 and for the four years before that, he was the arboretum’s landscape curator responsible for plant selection and acquisition, as well as design and maintenance of the plant collections throughout the arboretum.
He has an extensive history in public horticulture, working in many types of gardens. He was the horticulturist at The Met Cloisters, the managing horticulturist at LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton, and the senior gardener at Randall’s Island. He holds a Bachelor of Science in horticulture from Cornell University and is a certified arborist.
Staff Writer on Oct 31, 2024