Arboretum

Arboretum. Historic Wilcox Park. , Park Arboretum , Wilcox Park is an Arboretum, a museum of living trees. Many of the extant trees were built into Warren Manning's original park design. The design included the planting of additional trees, using the varieties available at the time , trees native to the area, and popular species like the European Beech. Over time, additional specimens were added, like the Dawn Redwood from Arnold Arboretum and the Tiger Eye Pine from the National Arboretum., Hardwoods like oaks, beeches, and maples and softwoods, mostly conifers like the pines and firs, are represented. Trees are lost and replaced; for example, over 100 trees went down in the Park in the '38 Hurricane. Proliferation of disease also led to changes in tree selection. For example, most of the native dogwoods were lost to a fungus; Japanese, or Kousa, dogwoods were added instead; as disease-resistant varieties became available, native dogwoods have been re-introduced.,

You can learn more about the trees in the Park:. - Find the plaques on many of the trees. , - Pick up the self-guided tree walk at the circulation desk in the Library. , - Attend a Master Gardener-led tree tour.

, Rhode Island Record Trees , The Rode Island Tree Council officially measures and compares "Big Trees" in Rhode Island. In 2018, Wilcox Park contained 8 "Big Trees" and 10 Champion Trees, the biggest of their kind in the state. Those and many other noteworthy trees are located on our entrance kiosk park map, or by obtaining the comprehensive self-guided tree walk map from the Library circulation desk.