The Grand Opening of the Mount Auburn Visitors Center at Story Chapel, scheduled for October 21, has been postponed. More details and a new date for this celebration will be announced later this year.

Some of the varieties of oak that can be found at Mount Auburn are the White Oak, Red Oak, Black Oak, Pin Oak, Sawtooth Oak and Scarlet Oak.

Number 48 on "The Big Trees of Mount Auburn" map, the Quercus coccinea, pictured to the upper left, is commonly referred to as a Scarlet Oak and can be found on Iris Path near Consecration Dell at the Cemetery. A younger Scarlet Oak planted nearby during a more recent Arbor Day event at the Cemetery, provides a nice contrast to the 180+ year old tree.

The North American Plant Collections Consortium (NAPCC), a joint venture by the American Public Gardens Association (APGA) and the USDA, recently accepted Mount Auburn Cemetery as one of 15 institutions in a group forming a nation-wide quercus collection - the first large multi-institution collection in the NAPCC program.

Mount Auburn's acceptance into the program, which recognizes valuable plant species germplasm, institutional commitment to conservation and preservation, high standards of collections management and well documented plant records, is a significant endorsement of the Cemetery's horticultural legacy.

Learn more about Mount Auburn's horticultural collections.

In the event of inclement weather the volunteer bulb planting event will be held at 9:30 AM on Friday, October 19th. Call 617-607-1983 for weather-related updates.

Celebrate the arrival of fall foliage at Mount Auburn! On Saturday, October 13th at 3:00 PM and again on Tuesday, October 23 at 10:00 AM, Kelley Sullivan, Horticultural Staff, Mount Auburn, will lead "Awash in Color" - a fall walking tour. Join us for either (or both) of these walks to experience the beauty of autumn at Mount Auburn. We will visit some of the more colorful trees in our landscape and look for plants and shrubs displaying fall fruits and nuts.

These walking tours will be held rain or shine and are $5 per person for members of the Friends and $10 per person for non-members.

Please register online for these programs and other events at Mount Auburn.

This program will answer any questions that you may have about cremation procedures and costs. After the informative presentation at Bigelow Chapel, there will be an opportunity to tour the crematory. FREE.

Please register online for this presentation and other programs at Mount Auburn.

In the August edition of our e-letter we reported on a project now under construction here at Mount Auburn, Birch Gardens, a unique new burial space expected to be completed during the summer of 2008.

Designed by Halvorson Design Partnership, Birch Gardens will be an innovative and elegant addition to Mount Auburn's landscape, consisting of seven-foot high, 16-inch thick granite panels connected by ornamental iron fencing, all weaving through a variety of woodland plantings both inside and outside the burial garden.

Since we last reported on the project, we've completed our first major milestone - nearly 80 granite base stones (most of them weighing 4800 pounds each) have been meticulously placed on a 4-foot deep, reinforced concrete foundation.

We expect the installation of the actual inscription stones to be completed this month, and the planting of over 50 trees and hundreds of shrubs to be completed next spring.