The Morton Arboretum forestry plots: A classic experiment supports a vision for the future

In the early 1900's, the Morton Arboretum established large, single-species plots to assess and demonstrate the “practical value of reforestation.” Today, we are using these plots to elucidate the relationships among tree traits and inputs, soil microbial traits, and soil biogeochemistry, and using this data to motivate a new initiative: the Morton Arboretum Common Garden. Overall, this example demonstrates that gardens’ abilities to support long-term visions and research initiatives uniquely position them to make distinct and critical contributions to tree and ecosystem science.